The island in Sudan that banned female genital mutilation

KHARTOUM, Sudan — At the point where the two Nile rivers converge into one lies the small island of Tuti, where community members have publicly and unanimously declared they will no longer cut and sew closed the genitals of their daughters.

The Tuti story is three centuries in the making. In the 1700s, a religious leader from the community challenged the notion that religious texts dictate the need for female genital mutilation, or FGM. As part of his legacy, the seed was slowly planted in the minds of local people that this practice is harmful to girls.

This legacy affected Egbal Muhammed Abbas Babiker’s father, who decided his daughter would not be cut in the most brutal way commonly practiced in Sudan — which can include full removal of the clitoris and labia, as well as sewing closed most of the vaginal canal. Instead, she would have a small incision. It was a bold decision for the time.

About five decades later, a young girl named Inaan died from FGM in Khartoum. The death rattled Babiker, who was by then a grandmother, known endearingly as “Mama Egbal.” She started the movement to ban cutting on the island.

Keep reading: Join Devex on the ground as we explore efforts to end female genital mutilation in Sudan, looking at the slow process to change community perceptions.