I was held down and cut with a dirty razor when I was only 6 - now I want to help other FGM survivors

Shamsa Sharawe, 31, was left in agony after being circumcised with a dirty razor at just six years old.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Shamsa - who grew up in Somalia - moved to the UK 23 years ago and has been in constant pain ever since.

As she got older her healed scar started ripping, leaving her in agony and making it difficult for to walk and wear normal clothes.

But doctors in the UK told Shamsa there was nothing they could do and refused to perform a reconstruction.

Shamsa, a teaching assistant, living in Burnley, said: "I had severe chronic pain.

"I couldn't function like a normal human being.”

Shamsa subsequently raised £25k to fly to Aachen, Germany, for a four-and-a-half hour procedure to reconstruct her clitoris.

She is finally without pain but is fighting for reconstruction surgery to be available in the UK and on the NHS.

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“The surgery went well. I'm still recovering from it,” she said.

“I had to deal with a lot - both mentally and physically. The way my period comes and how I urinate is different.

“My pain is gone - I'm so grateful.”

When Shamsa was just six years old, a local doctor known as 'The Cutter' performed the procedure with dirty implements while a group of adults held her down.

The barbaric surgery was performed without pain medication or anaesthetic.

She said: '”Being cut without anaesthetic was crippling. It was horrendous.

“I was in so much shock I became numb.

“It took about an hour to complete but it felt much longer. When the blade hits the skin, you feel everything.”

She added: “They wrapped our legs together for 24 hours and we couldn’t walk for a week. We were carried to the toilet and fed in our rooms as we couldn’t get up.

“This lasted two weeks, and even then it hadn’t properly healed. I would cry every time I had to pee for months afterwards.

“After the ordeal I was horrified.

“I was in shock and didn’t understand what was happening.

“I was six years old, and the pain was just unbearable."

When her devastated mother, Gani, who was living in Saudi Arabia, found out what had happened, she secured visas and they escaped to the UK in November 2001.

Shamsa joined a local school, and it was during sex education lessons that she realised the extent of the brutality she had faced.

Shamsa - who also works with MET police on their community and engagement programme - said: “The trauma hit me all at once. I felt like half a woman.

“I felt so insecure as a teenager and didn’t feel desirable at all."

Shamsa's healed scar tissue started ripping when she was 14, leaving her in excruciating pain.

She said: “I was sewn up like a piece of cloth. Then I started ripping as if I was a piece of cloth."

Shamsa saw countless doctors over the years but none of them knew what to do.

She said: “I went to a GP once and said I was ripping and I was a survivor of type three FGM and she said ‘what’s that?’

“It was me who had to explain that to a doctor.

“She didn't understand how a vagina could rip open on its own.”

Shamsa - who has a nine-year-old daughter - was also asked if she planned to do it to her.

She said: “I said ‘do you know how insulting that is?’

“Why put us all in the same box and assume we're going to cut our daughters?"”

In her late 20s the ripping became worse and Shamsa struggled to walk and sit.

She said: “I was ripping sideways.

“The scar tissue became very thin. The damaged clitoris became exposed.

“I was told ‘no doctor in this country will touch you’.

“I broke down crying. It was so unbelievable.

“I contemplated buying a razor so I could hurt myself - then they would be forced to intervene.”

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Shamsa started sharing her story online and another FGM survivor reached out who had been able to have reconstruction surgery in Germany.

She said: “She told me her experience of FGM and went on to tell me her experience of reconstructive surgery.

“The idea of it scared me - it was like having FGM all over again.

“It's someone going between your legs with a knife.”

Shamsa battled with the idea for two-and-a-half years before getting in contact with Dr Dan mon O'Dey, from Luisenhospital Aachen.

She eventually decided to crowdfund for the surgery and raised £25k so she could fly out in December 2023.

The money couldn't cover all of her treatment, flights and childcare so she still owes the hospital around £4k.

The surgery went well but Shamsa didn’t have the funds to pay for the check-ups and therapy afterwards.

She has struggled adjusting to her new body while being a single mum but feels amazing physically.

She said: “I feel so grateful for this surgery.

“I'm in amazing physical health.

“I'm able to walk and sit. I can wear underwear and trousers.

“Now I have a full functioning vulva - I've never had it.”

Despite her successful surgery, Shamsa still feels “alone” in her experience.

Doctors she has seen since in the UK have said they “wish” they could do the surgery themselves.

It's something Shamsa, a trained police officer, is now fighting for as well as more education and training for nurses and midwives.

She said: “There is no mandatory education for nurses and midwives (of FGM)."

“They have the skills to do it.

“If women can change their vaginas through plastic surgery why is this not allowed?”