Trigger warning: mutilation, physical abuse, discrimination
Nagulantang ang pageant fans sa speech ni Miss World Somalia 2025 Zainab Jama na inaming biktima siya ng female genitalia mutilation (FGM) sa sariling bansa.
Ang rebelasyon ng African beauty queen sa head-to-head presentation ng Miss World 2025 contestants ay nag-viral sa social media.
Sa India nagaganap ang pre-pageant events ng international beauty pageant. Doon din mangyayari ang grand coronation sa May 31, 2025.
Sensitibo ang mga rebelasyon ni Zainab tungkol sa FGM. Layunin daw niyang makatulong sa pagpapatigil ng marahas na tradisyon na nambiktima na sa maraming henerasyon ng kababaihan ng Somalia.
Ani Zainab, ito mismo ang adbokasiyang nagtulak sa kanyang sumali sa Miss World 2025.
MISS WORLD SOMALIA FORCED TO GO THROUGH FGM PROCEDURE
Babala ni Zainab, sensitibo ang susunod niyang ilalahad.
Aniya, maaaring hindi komportable ang marami sa kanyang paksa. “But, I believe, it’s something that the world needs to hear and needs to know.”
Musmos pa lamang si Zainab nang maranasan ang "female genitalia mutilation."
Balik-tanaw niya: “I was seven years old. I was outside playing with my friends when I was picked up.
“My clothes were ripped off and I was taken to a room where the women waited with blades, scissors, and all tools.
“These women were not doctors, not medically trained… just tradition passed on through generations.
“They cut off my clitoris, the part of my body meant for womanhood. They then sliced away the inner labia and the outer labia.
“[I] screamed in pain because during the procedure there’s no anesthesia used, no comfort. Only blood and loud silence...
“I remember crying and begging, but the woman told me to be quiet, to be brave, and to be proud as that was part of our tradition.
“Once the cutting was done, my skin was stitched back together with thick thread or thorn, leaving only a tiny part of hole barely enough for urine or blood to pass through. This process is called infibulation."
Ayon sa Oxford, ang infibulation ay “the practice of excising the clitoris and labia of a girl or woman and stitching together the edges of the vulva to prevent sexual intercourse. It is traditional in some northeastern African cultures but is highly controversial.”
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May pagkakataong habang nagsasalita si Zainab, natitigilan siya at nangingibabaw ang kanyang emosyon.
Pinuntahan at sinamahan siya sa entablado ni Julia Morley, Miss World Organization chairman and chief-executive officer, para damayan at bigyan ng lakas ng loob.
Itinuloy ni Zainab ang paglalahad sa nangyari sa kanya matapos ang infibulation.
Pagpapatuloy niya: “After the procedure, I was laid in a dark room with my legs tightly tied together for days. And remember I was in a room, and I was bleeding every day.
“I had no toys, I had nothing. I only had charcoal next to me. And I used to draw on the wall next to me.
“And I just draw my dreams away just to keep me alive because that part, after the procedure we had, a lot of girls died and didn’t make it out alive.”
Sabi ni Zainab, “That moment changed me forever and my childhood came to an end, I survived. But many of the girls didn’t and they don’t…”
Dagdag niya, “For generations, our mothers, our grandmothers, and the women before them [lived] in darkest pain in silence. They were taught that suffering was part of being a woman and that this is normal.
“But it’s not normal, it’s not okay, and it’s not part of our destiny.”
MISS SOMALIA'S MISSION
Dala ng dinanas na sapilitang FGM, itinayo raw ni Zainab ang Female Initiative Foundation, “a project to bond from one of the darkest moments of my life.”
Sabi pa nito, “I speak for the millions of girls whose voices were silenced before they ever had a chance to live freely.
“I know what it feels like to have your rights taken away; to feel powerless; to be told that your voice doesn’t matter.”
Patuloy ang pagsasagawa ng FGM sa pinanggalingang bansa ni Zainab.
Ayon kay Zainab, marami siyang natatanggap na mensahe mula sa mga batang babaeng Somalian at ipinaaalam sa kanya na sasailalim na sila sa FGM.
Sabi pa ni Zainab, 98% ng mga kababaihan sa Somalia ay dumaan sa FGM at ang natitirang 2% ay mga sanggol na babae na hindi pa tumutuntong sa tamang gulang para sumailalim sa tradisyong ito.
“That’s a whole nation of women in my country,” diin ni Zainab.
Sa itinayo niyang foundation, hangad ni Zainab na magpakalat ng awareness tungkol sa tinututulan niyang tradisyon sa kanyang bansa, at iligtas ang mga susunod na henerasyon ng Somalian women.
WHO AND UNICEF ON FGM
Sa report ng World Health Organizaiton (WHO) noong January 31, 2025, sinabi ritong 230 million ng mga kababaihang nabubuhay ngayon—bata at matanda—ang sumailalim sa FGM.
Galing sila sa 30 bansa sa Africa, Middle East, at Asia kunsaan sinusunod ang tradisyon.
Bukod sa ito ay "social norm," sinasabing bahagi raw ito ng pagpapalaki sa kababaihan sa lugar, at paraan daw para paghandaan ang kanilang pagdadalaga at pagpapakasal.
"This can include controlling her sexuality to promote premarital virginity and marital fidelity," dagdag ng isang artikulo sa WHO noong January 31, 2025.
Isinasailalim daw ang mga babae sa FGM mula pagkasanggol hanggang edad 15 anyos.
Sa isang report ng National Institutes of Health sa U.S., nabanggit na may mga sanggol na isinailalim sa FGM sa ibang African countries.
“FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women,” sabi pa ng WHO.
Tinitiyak ng WHO na sa FGM: “no health benefits, only harm.”
Halos ganito rin ang datos na lumabas sa artikulo sa United Nations Children’s Fund.
MISS SOMALIA ON BEING A REFUGEE AS A CHILD
Si Zainab ay born and raised sa Somalia.
Pero naging refugee siya at ang kanyang pamilya. Nilisan nila ang Somalia dahil sa “climate issues and conflicts,” ani Zainab sa kanyang speech noong Mayo 20, 2025.
Hindi raw naging madali ang kanilang paglisan sa Somalia.
“And luckily, our family got accepted and we found opportunity in the U.K., and that’s where I pursued my education. And my family and I were able to rebuild our life.”
Siyam na taong gulang daw si Zainab nang tumuntong ng U.K.
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