Burnley FGM survivor raising £50K for reconstruction surgery

Shamsa Sharawe, who grew up living with extended family in a small Somalian town called Muuqokore, was left in agony after being circumcised with a dirty razor at just six-years-old.

Female genital mutilation, or female genital cutting as it is now referred to thanks to  Shamsa’s campaign to have the name changed, involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Shamsa, who was forced to flee to safety in the UK aged seven, is now trying to raised £50,000 for life-changing surgery in Germany that she hopes will eradicate the severe pain she suffered for most of her life.

She said: “I had type three fgm which meant I had my clitoris, labia manora and my labia majora, removed.

“I have suffered from severe pain and discomfort since the age of six. I got my period when I was nine-years-old which affected me tremendously.

“The current issue I am having is there are no available treatments in the UK that help repair the scar tissue or the nerve damage caused by female genital mutilation.”

Shamsa says her scar tissue, that healed many years ago, has since torn causing immeasurable pain.

She said: “It is so hard to describe nerve pain. It is a very sharp pain and any time any type of material touches the area it can be painful.

“The pain overwhelms everything including my legs and back. There is no relief - the pain is non-stop.

“I am expected to live as part of normal society even with this pain.

“I can’t tell you how difficult my life has been [living with the after effects of FGM].

“It feels like I am living in a horror movie every single day and I am the only one who gets to experience and see it.”

The 30-year-old says she feels let down by the NHS and says there is no treatment available for her in the UK.

She is trying to raise money for FGM reconstruction surgery in Germany, which she hopes to have this year.

She said: “The surgery I need no longer exists [in the UK] so I have to pay outright for it.

“It is really unfair that I have to pay out of my own pocket or suffer with my current complications.

“There are some doctors who are completely unaware about the impact of FGM. I feel like I have to educate them. Some don’t even know what it looks like.

“It is very frustrating and it breaks my heart to have to constantly explain my ‘tearing’ and ‘ripping’.

Shamsa Sharawe when she was a child (Image: Shamsa Sharawe)

“Most of them cannot comprehend what this means -  I don’t think some have received enough medical training on FGM.

“Instead of providing me with a service one doctor told me ‘no doctor in this country will help me’.

“Imagine being told that, as a person who is suffering as a result of the actions of others. It wasn’t my choice and I was a child when this was done.”

Shamsa said she has had thoughts about harming herself just to encourage doctors to fix the issue.

She said: “Last year I was severely depressed because the pain was overwhelming and I had no support system.

“I didn’t act on it but I thought about injuring myself just so doctors would fix it and do an emergency surgery to fix what I had done.”

Shamsa is encouraging anyone who is able to donate to her GoFundMe, so she can pay for her surgery and put all of her efforts back into being an FGM activist.

She said: “I expected to be a voice against FGM, I am expected to educate people all about this practice, I am also expected to raise my child - how can I do all of this when I am in pain?

“Any donation, no matter how small, will go a long way.”

Shamsa is set to graduate from Burnley College, in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University, with a policing degree this September. She currently works with the police force to train new recruits about honour-based abuse.

To donate to Shamsa’s fundraiser visit: https://gofund.me/27781b8d