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My best friend is my awule (rescuer)
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By Demissew Bizuwerk
As Mekiya Mude, 11, and her best friend walked to school one bright November morning, their intimate conversation was about the previous day’s events. Before leaving home, her mother had told her that she would be circumcised at dusk along with her elder brother. In fact, Mekiya had seen all the preparations for the after-party to celebrate the ritual. She was too young to know all the consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM) but old enough to understand from girls subjected to FGM in her neighbourhood and school that it came with much pain.