Hiwet carries the weight of a painful past… a past inflicted by a harmful practice which was forced upon her during childhood and without her consent. Through the agony of childbirth complications inflicted upon her by this archaic tradition, she has emerged as a fierce advocate for change. Today, determined to spare others from a similar fate… Hiwet leads a tireless awareness campaign, empowering local girls to reject Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. 

“Today, we bear witness to a different reality, yearning for the time when FGM is a relic of the past in Eritrea. No longer would girls endure the agony of genital cutting and subsequent stitching, only to face further torment in marriage and childbirth. We dream of a future where such suffering is but a distant memory, where every girl grows up free from the evils of FGM.”