Women of Grace to host FGM forum in Bishop's Stortford

An afternoon of awareness focused on the impact of female genital mutilation (FGM) and sex-based violence will take place in Bishop's Stortford on Saturday (March 25).

The series of talks at Havers Community Centre, off Waytmore Road, has been organised by Women of Grace.

The charity was founded by Takeley resident Valerie Lolomari. Now a married mother of three, she was born in Lagos in Nigeria and raised by her maternal grandmother.

She endured FGM – the partial or total removal of external female genitalia – when she was just 16.

The practice has no health benefits for girls and women, but data from 30 countries where FGM is practised in the western, eastern and north-eastern regions of Africa, and some countries in the Middle East and Asia, indicate more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice, with more than three million girls estimated to be at risk.

Women of Grace will be joined by activist Hoda Ali, FGM specialist Joy Clarke and social worker Chido Zvogbo for the free sessions from noon to 4pm.

Valerie said the forum was for any FGM survivor or a potential victim and any woman who had suffered violence because of her sex.

To book, see https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unfold-2023-fgm-awareness-day-tickets-569993143837.