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Enayat

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Enayat demonstrates how female genital mutilation is done.
The Midwife
She remembers her first circumcision. Enayat Abdelhanid had been trained by a midwife, and to start with she was only the person who held the girl down, but after a few years it was time for her to do the job herself. She held the knife and the girl screamed. That’s the memory she has, that scream.

“When I look back on it, I feel genuine regret and compassion.” 


Who:
Enayat Abdelhanid
What: Midwife who has changed her opinion and is now opposed to genital mutilation.

“I used to circumcise up to twenty girls a day, and I was paid in money, tea and sugar. We used to cut out three parts. We held the girl down and she usually screamed. When I look back on it, I feel genuine regret and compassion.”

The thing that changed Enayat’s mind was the lecture by a doctor from Cairo about the risks to women posed by circumcision. That it can lead to chronic infections, a damaged urethra, infertility and that she can lose her ability for sexual pleasure.
“I thank God that I have found out more and become wiser!”