Fatima’s Story
My name is Fatima* and I am from Guinea. I always dreamed of the life I could have had, if only my father did not die when I was a baby. My mother loved my father so much and was devastated when he died in a car accident. But she was not a widow for long. In line with our tribal customs, she was forced to marry my father’s brother, a greedy and abusive man. As my new stepfather, he physically abused us regularly. He beat my mother openly, punching her in the face in front of all of her young, scared children. My siblings and I were not spared from his unrestrained violence either. He often made me lie down on the floor and then would start beating me with his belt. He made our lives miserable.
All the more because of this terrible experience, I hoped to marry a man that I loved, just as my mother had when she married my father. But these hopes were dashed when, as a teenager, my stepfather forced me to marry a friend of his named Cheikh.* I was only 17, and this man was 42. I had not even completed high school. I was devastated and cried throughout the entire marriage ceremony.
This very real nightmare only got worse after my marriage to Cheikh. He was violent and beat me several times a week—using his fists, belts, and even small tree branches. I still have scars on my body and I cannot walk without pain to this very day. He raped me constantly, starting on my wedding night, when he held my face down and forced himself onto me.
Cheikh believed that it was shameful that I was not “circumcised.” In our tribe, almost all of the women undergo female genital mutilation. However, because my father was against the practice, and out of respect for his wishes, no one had forced me to go through it. When Cheikh asked me to undergo the procedure after marriage, I refused. Little did I know that he was planning to force it on me.
In 2004, Cheikh drove me to his village for a “vacation,” during which I stayed with his family members. A few days into our visit, his family told me that we were going to visit some family friends in the village. When I entered the door of the “family friends,” I was horrified to see several naked girls on the floor who were being cut. When I realized that this was a trap, I cried out and struggled to leave the house, but it was too late. My clothes were torn off, and three women pinned me to the ground while two others used a dirty knife to mutilate me. The pain was excruciating, and I struggled and screamed throughout the procedure.
I couldn’t walk normally, and I experienced recurring bleeding for several weeks after the procedure. When I returned to Cheikh, it was even more painful than before when he resumed raping me. He also continued beating me with as much fervor as before.
After unsuccessfully trying to run away from Cheikh on two different occasions, I finally got my chance to flee when my aunt and mother made secret arrangements for me to leave Guinea. After I arrived in the United States in 2006, I learned about the Tahirih Justice Center. Tahirih partnered with the great attorneys that worked on my asylum case, Kyle Cohen and Sara Zogg, from the law firm of Howrey, LLP. Due to their hard work on my behalf, I was granted asylum by an immigration judge in 2007, just a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I still don’t know how to thank my attorneys and everyone at the Tahirih Justice Center for all of their support throughout this difficult process. They are all truly my heroes.
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*Names have been changed to protect privacy. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.
