Girl, 11, writes heartbreaking letter begging not be cut like her sister

An 11-year-old girl has written a heartbreaking letter pleading with a charity to help her avoid genital mutilation.

She writes her 12-year-old sister had been cut by her aunt without her parent's knowledge - and she fears she will suffer the same fate.

She adds: "I really hope you can help me, not to have my private cut."

The unidentified girl, who moved to England in 2005 from Gambia, is just one of 24,000 who are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) all over the UK.

Her sister had been taken to her grandmother's house in Gambia, west Africa for the procedure. She had been afraid to report the crime because she was told "if she ever tells anyone the sprits will come and kill her immediately" (sic).

In the letter to charity Equality Now, the young girl writes how her sister had burst into tears while watching a TV program on African culture. She then told her teacher about it who - mistakenly - told the young girl to write to the charity instead of alerting the police.

Girls from the ages of four to 14 are subjected to FGM in the belief that it makes them more marriageable. The practice is common in some African countries and among the African diaspora in the UK and varies in extremes - from the removal of the labia to the excision of all of the external part of the genitalia and the stitching of the vaginal opening. The procedure is normally carried out by women with little or no medical training who uses the most basic of tools with no anesthesia.

The act is commonly mislabeled as a cultural practice but is called child abuse by anti-FGM campaigners and has been illegal in Britain since 1985.

Efua Dorkenoo, director of Equality Now, told the 'Evening Standard' teachers and other child workers need to be aware of the practice and alert the police.

She said: “As with other forms of child abuse, teachers need to be alert to, and report, all evidence of emotional or physical pain, missed classes from school, or any of the other common indicators of FGM. If they and other frontline professionals do this, we will get prosecutions and come closer to ending this horrific abuse.”

David Cameron is to allocate millions of pounds of Britain's foreign aid to eradicate FGM - making it the largest investment to wipe out the practice which affects 150million women worldwide. There are more than 100,000 FGM survivors living in the UK.

The letter to charity Equality Now:

8th November 2010

Dear Madam

My name is ******* and I am 11 years old. I and my mum, sisters and brother came to England in 2005 when I had just turned 6 years old to join my dad who was at University. We come from Gambia in West Africa.

Three weeks ago we were watching a TV programme on African culture and as they were showing girls having their privates cut, my older sister who is 12 years old started crying. After 2 days she told my dad that she also had her private cut. Mum and Dad never knew about it and she was told if she ever tells anyone the sprits will come and kill her immediately. She said it was done one weekend by my aunties at my nans house. Last Friday mum took her to our GPto have her checked and the doctor said it was done to her.

This morning when I went to school I told one of my teachers about it and together we went on the computer and found your group. The teacher asked me to write to you and ask for your help. I don’t want my private cut by anyone.

My dad loves us very much and he did not like what they done to my sister and he is very confussed. We should be going back to Gambia any time after Eid and he is worried and upset that they would do the same to me. I don’t what that too.

If you reply to this letter I will showe my dad and I am shore that he would be very glad to have your help. He is my best friend and if he knows what to do he would do it, he would not want anything to hurt us – I know that.

Please madam help me, and my dad. If you reply soon he would definately contact you if you can help. I really hope you can help me, not to have my private cut. I am reallye confused expessically seeing my dad so un-happy and not knowing what to do.

Thank you very much for reading my letter.