Born a girl in the wrong place | Khadija Gbla | TEDxCanberra - Summary

Summary

A possible concise summary is:

Khadija Gbla shares her personal journey with female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that affects millions of girls and women around the world. She recounts the trauma of being cut by her mother in Gambia, the challenges of settling in Australia as a refugee, and the impact of FGM on her health, sexuality and identity. She also reveals how she became an advocate for ending FGM in Australia and beyond, and urges everyone to join her in protecting the rights of children and women.

Facts

Here are the key facts extracted from the text:

1. The speaker is Khadija Gbla, a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM) and an advocate for ending FGM.
2. She was born in Sierra Leone, where FGM was a common and celebrated practice among women.
3. She escaped the war in Sierra Leone and became a refugee in Gambia, where her mother took her to a remote hut and had her clitoris cut off by an old lady with a rusty knife when she was three years old.
4. She moved to Australia as a refugee and faced racism, discrimination and culture shock in her new country.
5. She joined a female genital mutilation program as a volunteer without realizing that she had been mutilated herself until she saw a chart of the different types of FGM.
6. She confronted her mother about what she had done to her and learned that her mother believed it was for her own good, empowerment and purity.
7. She struggled with her identity, sexuality and health as a result of FGM. She had painful periods, fibroids and infertility issues.
8. She got married and found out that she was pregnant after being told she could not have children.
9. She founded an organization called No FGM Australia to raise awareness and prevent FGM from happening to other girls in Australia.
10. She asked the audience to join her in ending FGM by signing her petition on Change.org and making it personal.

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