Ngoma is deaf, so she didn’t hear the group of boys as they snuck up behind her on a road in her hometown of Matadi. “They ambushed me, then dragged me to a secluded area and abused me,” she told UNFPA. After the attack, she didn’t know where to turn. “They took advantage of my disability to commit their crime, going so far as to make me a mother.”

When she was fourteen, Zekia discovered that her parents were secretly preparing for her older sister to undergo female genital mutilation.“My brother heard about it and tried to discourage them,” she told UNFPA. “He reminded them that the practice has been prohibited and argued it would expose her to lots of complications.” She had witnessed the pain it can cause.

Mumina was just 7 years old when she suffered female genital mutilation (FGM). Bernadette was 13. As adults, they are part of Kenya’s movement to end FGM. See how they have transformed their pain into strength to make sure that their daughters, and countless others, can live free from FGM.