Fauziya Kassindja

Advantages: Insightful, educational and compelling
Disadvantages: some parts are tricky to read

...This book was bought for me a couple of years ago and proved to be one of the best books i have ever read.This account of Fauziya Kassindja and her fight for freedom will arouse so many emotions including sympathy and anger. The book is Fauziya's account of her life so far starting with her childhood in Togo, Africa and ending in 1996 when she finally won her freedom. The book describes her early years and happy memories of a sheltered upbringing protecting her from tribal customs such as polygamy and genital mutation. However after the death of her father she is sent to live with relatives who embrace such tribal customs and as a result at the age of 17 she is forced into a marriage to a man she hardly knows who already has 3 wives. Before the marriage can take place though Fauziya is prepared for female genital mutilation. However... Read review

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Advantages: Eye opening
Disadvantages: Heartbreaking and shocking

..."Do They Hear You When You Cry" is a true life and modern autobiography of a woman from Togo, Africa, who was forced to flee her homeland and abandoned her family to avoid the customer of Female Gender Mutilation (FGM). I first read of this subject nearly ten years ago, and now, as I think back to that magazine article, and reading the hoorror that our author Fauziya Kassindja faced during the 1990's, I have to wonder if the article I did read was actually the one which was released by Fauziya's lawyers, prior to her release. Kauziya was born in Togo, a tiny African country which has more loyalty to its long-formed tribes than to its more recently formed country borders. Born to a large family, including several older sisters, Kauziya was doubtless her father's (Yaya) favourites of all his children, being one of the youngest... Read review

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