The first phase of Seeds Of The Future happened in June 2015 and was hosted by the Midaye Somali Development Network.
“Seeds of the Future” was the name chosen by the team in Kenya to bring the FGM work, and Hadithi ya Afrika’s approach back to the United Kingdom.
Sarah Penny worked in collaboration with Paula Kingwill, who came to the UK under the Brunel University Knowledge Transfer Secondment Scheme. Over a three-week period Sarah and Paula worked closely with 12 participants from the London Somali community; five adult woman who had been infibulated as children, four adolescent girls whose families had protected them from infibulation, and three men who strongly object to FGM. This testimony will now be translated into Somali and podcast for use at a grassroots level by community health advocates to encourage the Somali community to reject genital cutting altogether.
This work was made possible by the generosity of Thomson Reuters’ Community Champion Award and Brunel University. I would also like to offer my thanks and gratitude to two extraordinary women, Idil Hassan and Filsan Ali, who had the faith in me to facilitate this project and to give me the amazing opportunity to work with an organization as invaluable and important as Midaye.
