05/06/2026
For years, Fatuman Dimsi was known in her community as someone families trusted to carry out FGM/C. It was a deeply rooted norm, accepted by many and rarely questioned.
“But at that time, we believed this was normal,” she recalls.
But through sustained community dialogue, safe space sessions, and awareness raising, Fatuman began to reflect on the pain, trauma, and lifelong consequences girls were enduring. What she once saw as tradition, she now recognizes as harm.
“After many sessions, I started thinking deeply. I asked myself, why am I deciding for these girls to suffer?” she says.
Today, Fatuman has chosen a different path. She has stopped practicing FGM/C and is now using her voice to help protect girls, challenge harmful norms, and encourage other women to do the same.
“Girls should not go through what we went through. They deserve a better future,” she says.
Her story is a powerful reminder that change is possible, even in places where harmful practices have been normalized for generations. When women are engaged with respect, information, and support, they can become leaders of transformation in their own communities.
ASDEPO implemented a child protection and GBV focused intervention in Afar Region Zone 2 at Berhale and Erebti Woredas for the last 20 months using a fund accessed from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through Save the Children International (SCI).
