Hi. Today I'm going to share my personal journey with female genital mutilation, FGM. Feel free to cry, laugh, cross your legs, or do anything your body feels like doing. I'm not going to name the things your body does.
Zdravo. Danas ću podeliti svoj lični put sa sakaćem ženskih genitalija, SŽG. Slobodno plačite, smejte se, prekrstite noge, ili radite šta god da se vašem telu radi. Neću imenovati ono što vaše telo radi.
I was born in Sierra Leone. Did anybody watch "Blood Diamond"? If you have any thoughts -- I don't have any diamonds on me, by the way. If you have heard of Ebola, well, that's in Sierra Leone as well. I don't have Ebola. You're all safe. Don't rush to the door. Be seated. You're fine. I was checked before I got here.
Rođena sam u Sijera Leoneu. Da li je neko gledao "Krvavi dijamant"? Ako imate bilo kakvih pomisli - nemam dijamante na sebi, uzgred. Ako ste čuli za ebolu, to je takođe u Sijera Leoneu. Ja nemam ebolu. Bezbedni ste. Ne jurite ka vratima. Ostanite u sedištu. U redu je.
My grandfather had three wives.
Pregledana sam pre nego što sam došla ovde.
Don't ask me why a man needs more than one wife. Men, do you need more than one wife? I don't think so. There you go. He was looking for a heart attack, that's what I say. Oh yeah, he was.
Moj deda je imao tri žene. Ne pitajte me zašto čoveku treba više od jedne žene. Muškarci, da li vam treba više od jedne žene? Ne bih rekla. Eto. Tražio je srčani udar, kažem ja. O da, tražio ga je.
When I was three, war broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991. I remember literally going to bed one night, everything was good. The next day, I woke up, bombs were dropping everywhere, and people were trying to kill me and my family. We escaped the war and ended up in Gambia, in West Africa. Ebola is there as well. Stay away from it. While we were there as refugees, we didn't know what was going to become of us. My mom applied for refugee status. She's a wonderful, smart woman, that one, and we were lucky. Australia said, we will take you in. Good job, Aussies.
Kada sam imala tri godine, izbio je rat u Sijera Leoneu 1991. godine. Sećam se bukvalno da sam jedne noći otišla u krevet, sve je bilo dobro. Sledećeg dana, probudila sam se, bombe su padale na sve strane, i ljudi su pokušavali da ubiju mene i moju porodicu. Pobegli smo od rata i završili u Gambiji, u zapadnoj Africi. Ebola je i tamo. Držite se podalje odatle. Dok smo tamo boravili kao izbeglice, nismo znali šta će biti sa nama. Moja mama se prijavila za status izbeglice. Ona je divna, pametna žena, i imali smo sreće. Australija je rekla: primam vas. Bravo Australijanci.
Before we were meant to travel, my mom came home one day, and said, "We're going on a little holiday, a little trip." She put us in a car, and we drove for hours and ended up in a bush in a remote area in Gambia. In this bush, we found two huts. An old lady came towards us. She was ethnic-looking, very old. She had a chat with my mom, and went back. Then she came back and walked away from us into a second hut. I'm standing there thinking, "This is very confusing. I don't know what's going on." The next thing I knew, my mom took me into this hut. She took my clothes off, and then she pinned me down on the floor. I struggled and tried to get her off me, but I couldn't. Then the old lady came towards me with a rusty-looking knife, one of the sharp knives, orange-looking, has never seen water or sunlight before. I thought she was going to slaughter me, but she didn't. She slowly slid down my body and ended up where my vagina is. She took hold of what I now know to be my clitoris, she took that rusty knife, and started cutting away, inch by inch. I screamed, I cried, and asked my mom to get off me so this pain will stop, but all she did was say, "Be quiet." This old lady sawed away at my flesh for what felt like forever, and then when she was done, she threw that piece of flesh across the floor as if it was the most disgusting thing she's ever touched. They both got off me, and left me there bleeding, crying, and confused as to what just happened.
Pre nego što je trebalo da otputujemo, moja mama je došla kući jednog dana i rekla: "Idemo na mali odmor, malo putovanje." Smestila nas je u auto, vozili smo se satima i završili u grmu u udaljenoj oblasti Gambije. U tom grmu smo našli dve kolibe. Prišla nam je starija dama. Bila je etničkog izgleda, veoma stara. Proćaskala je sa mojom mamom i vratila se. Onda se vratila i otišla u drugu kolibu. Stojim ja tamo i mislim: "Ovo je vrlo zbunjujuće. Ne znam šta se dešava." Sledeće čega se sećam, mama me vodi u tu kolibu. Skinula mi je odeću i zatim me je prikovala za pod. Borila sam se i pokušala da je sklonim sa sebe, ali nisam mogla. Onda mi je starica prišla sa nožem koji je izgledao zarđalo, jednim od oštrih noževa, nalik narandžastoj, nikada nije video vodu niti svetlost dana. Mislila sam da će me zaklati, ali nije. Polako se spustila niz moje telo i došla do moje vagine. Uzela je ono za šta sada znam da je bio moj klitoris, uzela je taj zarđali nož i počela da seče, komad po komad. Vrištala sam i plakala, molila sam mamu da siđe sa mene da bi bol prestao, ali samo je rekla: "Budi mirna." Starica je strugala moje meso, činilo se, čitavu večnost, i onda kada je završila, bacila je to parče mesa na pod kao da je to najodvratnija stvar koju je ikada dodirnula. Obe su se sklonile od mene i ostavile me tu da krvarim, plačem, zbunjena zbog toga što se upravo dogodilo.
We never talked about this again. Very soon, we found that we were coming to Australia, and this is when you had the Sydney Olympics at the time, and people said we were going to the end of the world, there was nowhere else to go after Australia. Yeah, that comforted us a bit. It took us three days to get here. We went to Senegal, then France, and then Singapore. We went to the bathroom to wash our hands. We spent 15 minutes opening the tap like this. Then somebody came in, slid their hand under and water came out, and we thought, is this what we're in for? Like, seriously.
Nikada nismo više pričale o tome. Ubrzo potom smo saznali da idemo u Australiju, a u to vreme su se održavale Olimpijske igre u Sidneju, i ljudi su govorili da idemo na kraj sveta, da nema više gde da se ode posle Australije. Da, to nas je malo utešilo. Trebalo nam je tri dana da stignemo ovde. Išli smo u Senegal, zatim Francusku, i onda Singapur. Išli smo u kupatilo da peremo ruke. Proveli smo 15 minuta uključujući česmu ovako. Onda je neko ušao, gurnuo ruke ispod i voda je krenula, i pomislili smo, zar smo zbog toga ovde? Mislim, stvarno.
We got to Adelaide, small place, where literally they dumped us in Adelaide, that's what I would say. They dumped us there. We were very grateful. We settled and we liked it. We were like, "We're home, we're here." Then somebody took us to Rundle Mall. Adelaide has only one mall. It's this small place. And we saw a lot of Asian people. My mom said all of a sudden, panicking, "You brought us to the wrong place. You must take us back to Australia." Yeah. It had to be explained to her that there were a lot of Asians in Australia and we were in the right place. So fine, it's all good.
Došli smo u Adelejd, malo mesto, gde su nas bukvalno istovarili, tako bih ja rekla. Istovarili su nas tamo. Bili smo vrlo zahvalni. Nastanili smo se i svidelo nam se. Bili smo u fazonu: "Kod kuće smo, tu smo." Onda nas je neko odveo u Randl tržni centar. Adelejd ima samo jedan tržni centar. To je malo mesto. I videli smo mnogo Azijata. Moja mama je rekla iznenada, u panici: "Doveli ste nas na pogrešno mesto. Morate da nas vratite u Australiju." Da. Moralo je da joj se objasni da ima mnogo Azijata u Australiji i da smo na pravom mestu. Tako da je sve bilo u redu.
My mom then had this brilliant idea that I should go to a girls school because they were less racist. I don't know where she read that publication. (Laughter) Never found evidence of it to this day. Six hundred white kids, and I was the only black child there. No, I was the only person with a bit of a color on me. Let me say that. Chocolate color. There were no Asians, no indigenous. All we had was some tan girls, girls who felt the need to be under the sun. It wasn't the same as my chocolate, though. Not the same. Settling in Australia was quite hard, but it became harder when I started volunteering for an organization called Women's Health Statewide, and I joined their female genital mutilation program without any awareness of what this program was actually about, or that it related to me in any way. I spent months educating nurses and doctors about what female genital mutilation was and where it was practiced: Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and now, Australia and London and America, because, as we all know, we live in a multicultural society, and people who come from those backgrounds come with their culture, and sometimes they have cultural practices that we may not agree with, but they continue to practice them.
Moja mama je onda imala briljantnu ideju da treba da idem u školu za devojčice jer su one manje rasistički naklonjene. Ne znam gde je pročitala tu brošuru. (Smeh) Do danas nisam našla dokaz u prilog tome. Šest stotina bele dece, a ja sam bila jedino crno dete tamo. Ne, bila sam jedina osoba sa malo boje na sebi. Da vam kažem. Čokoladna boja. Nije bilo Azijata niti domorodaca. Imali smo samo neke preplanule devojčice, devojčice koje su imale potrebu da budu pod suncem. Nije bilo isto kao moja čokoladna boja. Nije bilo isto. Nastanjivanje u Australiji je bilo prilično teško, ali je postalo teže kada sam počela da volontiram za organizaciju po imenu Zdravlje žena širom zemlje, i priključila se njihovom programu genitalnog sakaćenja žena bez svesti o tome o čemu je program zapravo, ili da ima veze sa mnom na bilo koji način. Provela sam mesece edukujući medicinske sestre i doktore o tome šta je žensko genitalno sakaćenje i gde se upražnjava: u Africi, Srednjem istoku, Aziji, i sada i u Australiji, Londonu i Americi, jer, kao što svi znamo, živimo u multikulturalnom društvu, ljudi koji dolaze iz tih sredina dolaze sa svojom kulturom, i ponekad imaju kulturalne običaje sa kojima se možemo ne slagati, ali nastavljaju da ih obavljaju.
One day, I was looking at the chart of the different types of female genital mutilation, FGM, I will just say FGM for short. Type I is when they cut off the hood. Type II is when they cut off the whole clitoris and some of your labia majora, or your outer lips, and Type III is when they cut off the whole clitoris and then they sew you up so you only have a little hole to pee and have your period. My eyes went onto Type II. Before all of this, I pretty much had amnesia. I was in so much shock and traumatized by what had happened, I didn't remember any of it. Yes, I was aware something bad happened to me, but I had no recollection of what had happened. I knew I had a scar down there, but I thought everybody had a scar down there. This had happened to everybody else. But when I looked at Type II, it all came back to me. I remembered what was done to me. I remembered being in that hut with that old lady and my mom holding me down.
Jednog dana, gledala sam prikaz različitih tipova sakaćenja ženskih genitalija. SŽG, govoriću SŽG skraćeno. Tip I je kada odseku kapicu. Tip II je kada odseku ceo klitoris i nešto od velikih polnih usana, ili spoljnih usmina, a tip III je kada odseku ceo klitoris i onda vas zašiju tako da imate samo malu rupu da piškite i da imate menstuaciju. Oči su mi krenule ka tipu II. Pre svega ovoga, uglavnom sam imala amneziju. Bila sam u tolikom šoku i traumatizovana time što se dogodilo, da se nisam sećala ničeg od toga. Da, bila sam svesna da mi se dogodilo nešto loše, ali nisam imala sećanje na to šta se dogodilo. Znala sam da imam ožiljak tamo dole, ali sam mislilila da svi imaju ožiljak tu. To se i svima ostalima dogodilo. Ali kada sam pogledala tip II, sve mi se vratilo. Setila sam se šta mi je učinjeno. Setila sam se da sam bila u toj kolibi sa tomo staricom i mojom mamom koja me je držala.
Words cannot express the pain I felt, the confusion that I felt, because now I realized that what was done to me was a terrible thing that in this society was called barbaric, it was called mutilation. My mother had said it was called circumcision, but here it was mutilation. I was thinking, I'm mutilated? I'm a mutilated person. Oh my God.
Reči ne mogu opisati bol koji sam osetila, zbunjenost koju sam osetila, jer sam sada shvatala da je ono što mi je učinjeno užasna stvar koju u ovom društvu nazivaju varvarskom, nazvana je sakaćenjem. Moja majka je rekla da se zove obrezivanje, ali ovde je to sakaćenje. Mislila sam: ja sam osakaćena? Ja sam osakaćena osoba. O Bože.
And then the anger came. I was a black angry woman. (Laughter) Oh yeah. A little one, but angry nevertheless. I went home and said to my mom, "You did something." This is not the African thing to do, pointing at your mother, but hey, I was ready for any consequences. "You did something to me." She's like, "What are you talking about, Khadija?" She's used to me mouthing off. I'm like, "Those years ago, You circumcised me. You cut away something that belonged to me." She said, "Yes, I did. I did it for your own good. It was in your best interest. Your grandmother did it to me, and I did it to you. It's made you a woman." I'm like, "How?" She said, "You're empowered, Khadija. Do you get itchy down there?" I'm like, "No, why would I get itchy down there?" She said, "Well, if you were not circumcised, you would get itchy down there. Women who are not circumcised get itchy all the time. Then they sleep around with everybody. You are not going to sleep around with anybody." And I thought, her definition of empowerment was very strange. (Laughter) That was the end of our first conversation. I went back to school. These were the days when we had Dolly and Girlfriend magazines. There was always the sealed section. Anybody remember those sealed sections? The naughty bits, you know? Oh yeah, I love those. (Laughter) Anyway, there was always an article about pleasure and relationships and, of course, sex. But it always assumed that you had a clitoris, though, and I thought, this doesn't fit me. This doesn't talk about people like me. I don't have a clitoris. I watched TV and those women would moan like, "Oh! Oh!" I was like, these people and their damned clitoris. (Laughter) What is a woman without a clitoris supposed to do with her life? That's what I want to know. I want to do that too -- "Oh! Oh!" and all of that. Didn't happen.
I tada je nastupio bes. Bila sam ljuta crnkinja. (Smeh) O da. Mala, ali ipak ljuta. Otišla sam kući i rekla mami: "Uradila si nešto." To nije afrički činiti, upirati prstom na svoju majku, ali hej, bila sam spremna na posledice. "Nešto si mi uradila." Ona će: "O čemu pričaš, Kadidža?" Navikla je da imam dugačak jezik. Rekla sam: "Pre toliko godina, ti si me obrezala. Odsekla si nešto što mi je pripadalo." Ona je rekla: "Da, jesam. Uradila sam to za tvoje dobro. Bilo je u tvom najboljem interesu. Tvoja baka je to uradila meni, i ja sam uradila tebi. To te je učinilo ženom." Ja ću na to: "Kako?" Ona je rekla: "Osnažena si, Kadija. Da li te zasvrbi tamo dole?" Ja kažem: "Ne, zašto bi me zasvrbelo tamo dole?" Rekla je: "Pa, da nisi obrezana, zasvrbelo bi te tamo dole. Žene koje nisu obrezane stalno svrbi. Onda spavaju okolo sa svima. Ti nećeš spavati ni sa kim." Pomislila sam, njena definicija osnaživanja je vrlo čudna. (Smeh) To je bio kraj našeg prvog razgovora. Vratila sam se u školu. To su bili dani kada smo imali časopise Doli i Drugarica. Uvek je postojao zatvoreni odeljak. Da li se iko seća tih zatvorenih odeljaka? Nevaljali delovi, znate? O da, volim ih. (Smeh) Uglavnom, uvek je tu bio članak o zadovoljstvu i vezama i naravno, o seksu. Ali se uvek pretpostavljalo da imate klitoris, i mislila sam, ovde se ne uklapam. Ovo ne govori o ljudima kao što sam ja. Ja nemam klitoris. Gledala sam TV i te žene bi stenjale: "Ah! Ah!" Mislila sam, ti ljudi i njihov prokleti klitoris. (Smeh) Šta žena bez klitorisa treba da uradi sa svojim životom? To ja hoću da znam. Hoću i ja da to radim - "Ah! Ah!" i tako to. Nije se desilo.
So I came home once again and said to my mom, "Dolly and Girlfriend said I deserve pleasure, that I should be having orgasms, and that white men should figure out how to find the clitoris." Apparently, white men have a problem finding the clitoris. (Laughter) Just saying, it wasn't me. It was Dolly that said that. And I thought to myself, I had an inner joke in my head that said, "I will marry a white man. He won't have that problem with me." (Laughter) So I said to my mom, "Dolly and Girlfriend said I deserve pleasure, and do you know what you have taken away from me, what you have denied me? You have invaded me in the most sacred way. I want pleasure. I want to get horny, dammit, as well." And she said to me, "Who is Dolly and Girlfriend? Are they your new friends, Khadija?" I was like, "No, they're not. That's a magazine, mom, a magazine."
Došla sam kući još jednom i rekla mami: "Doli i Drugarica kažu da zaslužujem zadovoljstvo, da treba da imam orgazme, i da beli muškarci treba da otkriju kako da nađu klitoris." Navodno, belci imaju problem da pronađu klitoris. (Smeh) Samo kažem, nisam ja. Doli je to rekla. I pomislila sam, imala sam unutrašnju šalu u glavi koja kaže: "Udaću se za belca. On neće imati taj problem sa mnom." (Smeh) Rekla sam mami: "Doli i Drugarica kažu da zaslužujem zadovoljstvo, i da li znaš šta si mi oduzela, šta si mi uskratila? Oskrnavila si me na najsvetiji način. Želim zadovoljstvo. Želim i ja da se napalim, dođavola." A ona mi je rekla: "Ko su Doli i Drugarica? Da li su to tvoji novi prijatelji, Kadidža?" Ja ću na to: "Ne, nisu. To je časopis, mama, časopis."
She didn't get it. We came from two different worlds. When she was growing up, not having a clitoris was the norm. It was celebrated. I was an African Australian girl. I lived in a society that was very clitoris-centric. It was all about the damn clitoris! And I didn't have one! That pissed me off.
Nije ukapirala. Došle smo iz dva različita sveta. Kada je ona odrastala, bilo je pravilo nemati klitoris. To je bilo slavljeno. Ja sam bila afro-australijanska devojka. Živela sam u društvu koje je bilo veoma klitoris-centrično. Sve se vrtelo oko prokletog klitorisa! A ja ga nisam imala! To me je izluđivalo.
So once I went through this strange phase of anger and pain and confusion, I remember booking an appointment with my therapist. Yes, I'm an African who has a therapist. There you go. And I said to her, "I was 13. I was a child. I was settling in a new country, I was dealing with racism and discrimination, English is my third language, and then there it was." I said to her, "I feel like I'm not a woman because of what was done to me. I feel incomplete. Am I going to be asexual?" Because from what I knew about FGM, the whole aim of it was to control the sexuality of women. It's so that we don't have any sexual desire. And I said, "Am I asexual now? Will I just live the rest of my life not feeling like having sex, not enjoying sex?" She couldn't answer my questions, so they went unanswered.
Kad sam prošla kroz ovu čudnu fazu besa i bola i zbunjenosti, sećam se da sam zakazala sastanak sa terapeutom. Da, ja sam Afrikanka koji ima terapeuta. Eto. I rekla sam joj: "Imala sam 13 godina. Bila sam dete. Doseljavala sam se u novu zemlju, suočavala sam se sa rasizmom i diskriminacijom, engleski je moj treći jezik, a onda je to usledilo" I rekla sam joj: "Osećam se kao da nisam žena zbog onoga što mi je učinjeno. Osećam se nepotpuno. Da li ću biti aseksualna?" Jer iz onoga što znam o SŽG, čitav cilj toga je bio da se kontroliše seksualnost žena. Tako da nemaju seksualnu želju. Pitala sam: "Da li sam sada aseksualna? Da li ću ostatak života živeti bez želje za seksom, bez uživanja u seksu?" Nije mogla da odgovori na moja pitanja, tako da su ostala bez odgovora.
When I started having my period around the age of 14, I realized I didn't have normal periods because of FGM. My periods were heavy, they were long, and they were very painful. Then they told me I had fibroids. They're like these little balls sitting there. One was covering one of my ovaries.
Kada sam počela da dobijam menstruaciju oko 14. godine, shvatila sam da nemam normalne menstruacije zbog SŽG. Moje menstruacije su bile obilne, duge, i bile su vrlo bolne. Onda su mi rekli da imam fibroze. To su kao ovakve loptice koje stoje tamo. Jedna je prekrivala jedan moj jajnik.
And there came then the big news. "We don't think you can have children, Khadija." And once again, I was an angry black woman.
A zatim su stigle velike vesti. "Mislimo da ne možeš da imaš decu, Kadidža." Još jednom, bila sam ljuta crnkinja.
I went home and I said to my mom, "Your act, your action, no matter what your may defense may be" -- because she thought she did it out love -- "what you did out of love is harming me, and it's hurting me. What do you have to say for that?" She said, "I did what I had to do as a mother." I'm still waiting for an apology, by the way.
Otišla sam kući i rekla mojoj mami: "Tvoje delo, tvoj postupak, bez obzira kakvo bilo tvoje opravdanje" - jer je mislila da je to uradila iz ljubavi - "ono što si uradila iz ljubavi mi škodi, i povređuje me. Šta imaš da kažeš na to?" Rekla je: "Uradila sam šta sam morala da uradim kao majka." Još uvek čekam izvinjenje, uzgred.
Then I got married. And once again -- FGM is like the gift that keeps giving. You figure that out very soon. Sex was very painful. It hurt all the time. And of course I realized, they said, "You can't have kids." I thought, "Wow, is this my existence? Is this what life is all about?" I'm proud to tell you, five months ago, I was told I was pregnant. (Applause)
Onda sam se udala. I još jednom - SŽG je kao poklon koji ti stalno daruje. Shvatićete ubrzo. Seks je bio vrlo bolan. Stalno je bolelo. I naravno razumela sam, rekli su: "Ne možeš da imaš dece." Mislila sam: "Vau, da li je ovo moja egzistencija? Da li je ovo sve u životu?" Ponosna sam što ću vam reći, pre pet meseci, rekli su mi da sam trudna. (Aplauz)
I am the lucky girl. There are so many women out there who have gone through FGM who have infertility. I know a nine-year-old girl who has incontinence, constant infections, pain. It's that gift. It doesn't stop giving. It affects every area of your life, and this happened to me because I was born a girl in the wrong place. That's why it happened to me.
Ja sam srećnica. Postoji toliko žena koje su prošle kroz SŽG koja su neplodne. Znam devetogodišnjakinju koja ima inkontinenciju, stalne infekcije, bol. To je taj poklon. Ne prestaje da daruje. Utiče na svaku oblast vašeg života, a to mi se dogodilo jer sam se rodila kao devojčica na pogrešnom mestu. Zato mi se to desilo.
I channel all that anger, all that pain, into advocacy because I needed my pain to be worth something. So I'm the director of an organization called No FGM Australia. You heard me right. Why No FGM Australia? FGM is in Australia. Two days ago, I had to call Child Protective Services, because somewhere in Australia, there's a four-year old there's a four-year-old whose mom is planning on performing FGM on her. That child is in kindy. I'll let that sink in: four years old. A couple of months ago, I met a lady who is married to a Malaysian man. Her husband came home one day and said he was going to take their daughters back to Malaysia to cut off their clitoris. And she said, "Why?" He said they were dirty. And she said, "Well, you married me." He said, "Oh, this is my cultural belief." They then went into a whole discussion where she said to him, "Over my dead body will you do that to my daughters." But imagine if this woman wasn't aware of what FGM was, if they never had that conversation? Her children would have been flown over to Malaysia and they would have come back changed for the rest of their lives. Do you know the millions of dollars it would take us to deal with an issue like that? [Three children per day] in Australia are at risk of having FGM performed on them. This is an Australian problem, people. It's not an African problem. It's not a Middle Eastern problem. It's not white, it's not black, it has no color, it's everybody's problem. FGM is child abuse. It's violence against women. It's saying that women don't have a right to sexual pleasure. It says we don't have a right to our bodies. Well, I say no to that, and you know what? Bullshit. That's what I have to say to that. (Applause)
Kanališem sav taj bes, sav taj bol, u advokaturu jer mi je potrebno da moj bol vredi nečemu. Direktor sam organizacije po imenu "Ne SŽG-u u Australiji". Dobro ste me čuli. Zašto "Ne SŽG-u u Australiji"? SŽG je u Australiji. Pre dva dana sam morala da zovem službu za zaštitu dece, jer negde u Australiji nalazi se devojčica od četiri godine, čija mama planira da izvrši SŽG na njoj. To dete je u vrtiću. Da ponovim: ima četiri godine. Pre nekoliko meseci, upoznala sam ženu koja je udata za čoveka sa Malezije. Njen suprug je došao kući jednog dana i rekao da će odvesti njihove ćerke nazad u Maleziju da im odseče klitoris. Pitala je: "Zašto?" Rekao je da su prljave. Ona je rekla: "Pa, oženio si se sa mnom." Rekao je: "O, to je verovanje u mojoj kulturi." Onda su ušli u čitavu diskusiju u kojoj mu je rekla: "Preko mene mrtve ćeš to uraditi mojim ćerkama." Ali zamislite da ova žena nije bila svesna toga šta je SŽG, da nikada nisu obavili taj razgovor? Njena deca bi bila odvedena u Maleziju i vratila bi se izmenjena za ceo život. Da li znate koliko miliona dolara bi nam bilo potrebno da se borimo sa takvim problemom? Svakoga dana tri deteta u Australiji su pod rizikom da SŽG bude izvršeno nad njima. To je problem Australije, narode. Nije problem Afrike. Nije problem Srednjeg Istoka. Nije belački, nije crnački, nema boju, to je svačiji problem. SŽG je zlostavljanje dece. To je nasilje nad ženama. To je iskaz da žene nemaju pravo na seksualno zadovoljstvo. Govori da nemamo pravo na svoja tela. Pa, kažem ne tome, i znate šta? Sranje. To imam da kažem tome. (Aplauz)
I am proud to say that I'm doing my part in ending FGM. What are you going to do? There may be a child in your classroom who is at risk of FGM. There may be a patient who comes to your hospital who is at risk of FGM. But this is the reality, that even in our beloved Australia, the most wonderful place in the world, children are being abused because of a culture. Culture should not be a defense for child abuse. I want ever single one of you to see FGM as an issue for you. Make it personal. It could be your daughter, your sister, your cousin.
Ponosno kažem da imam udela u okončanju SŽG. Šta ćete vi da uradite? Možda u vašoj učionici postoji dete koje je pod rizikom od SŽG. Možda postoji pacijent koji dolazi u vašu bolnicu koji je pod rizikom od SŽG. Ali ovo je stvarnost, da čak i u našoj voljenoj Australiji, najdivnijem mestu na svetu, decu zlostavljaju zbog kulture. Kultura ne treba da bude opravdanje za zlostavljanje dece. Želim da svako od vas vidi SŽG kao problem za sebe. Doživite ga na ličnom nivou. To bi mogla biti vaša ćerka, sestra, rođaka.
I can't fight FGM alone. I could try, but I can't. So my appeal to you is, please join me. Sign my petition on Change.org and type in Khadija, my name, and it'll come up, and sign it. The aim of that is to get support for FGM victims in Australia and to protect little girls growing up here to not have this evil done to them, because every child has a right to pleasure. Every child has a right to their bodies being left intact, and dammit, ever child has a right to a clitoris. So please join me in ending this act.
Ne mogu se sama boriti sa SŽG. Mogla bih da pokušam, ali ne mogu. Moja molba vama je: molim vas da mi se pridružite. Potpišite moju peticiju na Change.org i unesite Kadidža, moje ime, izaći će, i potpišite je. Cilj je da dobijemo podršku za žrtve SŽG u Australiji i da zaštitimo devojčice koje ovde odrastaju da im se ne dogodi ovo zlo, jer svako dete ima pravo na zadovoljstvo. Svako dete ima pravo da njegovo telo ostane netaknuto, i dođavola, svako dete ima pravo na klitoris. Molim vas da mi se priključite u okončanju ovog čina.
My favorite quote is, "All it takes for evil to prevail is for a few good men and women to do nothing." Are you going to let this evil of female genital mutilation to prevail in Australia? I don't think so, so please join me in ensuring that it ends in my generation.
Moj omiljeni citat je: "Sve što je potrebno da zlo pobedi je da dobri ljudi ništa ne učine." Da li ćete dopustiti tom zlu sakaćenja ženskih genitalija da pobedi u Australiji? Ne verujem, zato vas molim da mi se pridružite
Thank you.
da se postaramo da se to završi sa mojom generacijom.
(Applause)
Hvala.