Community Voices in Europe: Istahil Abdulahi fights stigma on FGM in the Netherlands
Istahil Abdulahi: breaking stigma to address FGM
Istahil Abdulahi is a Dutch-based activist, originally from Somalia, one of the highest prevalence countries of FGM. At six years old, she underwent FGM, without fully grasping what happened to her but with the belief that the act was something needed to be a good woman. “It's good to be cut. This is what you hear, If they don't do it, they believe I'm not able to be a good woman. So, they're doing me a favour, so this is what they believe”.
As she grew up, the trauma and conflicting feelings were still deeply rooted within her, making her adolescence isolated and confusing. “I can remember I was scared and I didn't know how to talk about this. I could not share it. There's no sharing in Somalia”.
From basketball player to activist
Istahil started playing basketball at a young age, unaware that years later she would arrive in the Netherlands with her basketball team due to the outbreak of civil war in Somalia.
While she was in a refugee shelter, she found out about FGM, its consequences and eventually what exactly happened to her, leaving her shocked, angry but with a renewed strength: challenge stigma and taboo topics like FGM and sexuality in her community to raise awareness on what was happening in Somalia. “It healed me when I begin to share my story.”
In 2018 she officially began sharing her story with television and radio, leading her to become a community trainer for FSAN, fiercely advocating in making women’s voices heard and not afraid to speak up about their experiences. “I threw my shame away. I don't care what I tell everybody; I just tell how it is. Now I'm a trainer, and I am key figure, and I go to everywhere, and I go to the women, and I will tell them, it's really not okay. And I really tell my perspective of how I feel, what happened to me, and then I can say: I know sometimes you don't even want to talk about it; I get it but let's talk about it. Please talk about it. You will feel more comfortable.”
Being Westernised
Although Istahil’s work is done within her community, is not always easy to effectively engage with them, as stigma, shame, cultural and religious factors influence their vision on FGM. Before addressing the act or other sensitive topics ( i.e sexuality, menstrual cycle, womanhood as a whole), which are often considered taboo, she could face lack of trust, suspicion and reluctance to speak from the community.
"We were challenged before from the communities, because they think we are the European people. When I talk to Somalian people who don't understand this Western life, they tell me: they changed you, I don't believe you. So, I have to explain, I have to begin where I'm from, what I did, why I did it. After that, maybe a few hours later, they will maybe understand me. But in the beginning, it's like, no, no, no, they brainwash you, they tell you to do this to us. We have to convince the community that we are doing this for them”.
Lack of recognition in institutional spaces
During her years as an activist, Istahil gained a profound expertise in the field further strengthened by her personal commitment to education and awareness. The engagement in decisional spaces of survivors, activists and affected communities is crucial to tailor policies that are in line with their specific needs. But often time, the role of communities remains inconsistent and further engagement efforts are necessary
About the Public Health Service of Amsterdam, she explains:
“In the Netherlands, the job needs to be done. They give Dutch people, who have no idea what they’re doing, positions in this work. And we are still here, and they ask me: Oh, you can volunteer if you want, okay? So, what do I do? They ask me to volunteer and I know I can do better work. I have time for them. They don't have time for them. They don't know how is for us. They only know the Dutch culture, but they don't know the Somalian culture”.
Looking forward
Regardless of the difficulties, the challenges and the frustration, Istahil is hopeful for the future:
“They didn’t build Rome in one day, so, we will hope that piece by piece, one day we will be ending FGM”.
In her activism she will continue to acknowledge the root causes of FGM, strive for the recognition of activists and FGM affected communities in policies spaces and promote women’s voices.
In Europe, the issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has only recently entered the public sphere. It wasn’t until the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in 2014, the Council of Europe’s landmark treaty on preventing and combating violence against women, that FGM was officially recognised as a form of gender-based violence within European borders. But this formal recognition was the result of years of persistent grassroots efforts by survivors, community advocates, and frontline organisations who refused to remain silent.
The Community Voices Project aims to spotlight six of these powerful voices: activists from FGM-affected communities across Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Through their stories, this project wants to spotlight how survivors are influencing policy, reshaping public discourse, and challenging the deeply ingrained social and cultural norms that continue to perpetuate FGM in diaspora communities.
To find out more about the project and the other activists’ journeys, click here!