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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Crossing Continents

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Crossing Continents: Escaping Tanzania's Cutting Season

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Escaping Tanzania's Cutting Season

02/04/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Crossing Continents, Escaping Tanzania's Cutting Season

The story of a Tanzanian safe house where girls find refuge from female genital mutilation

Linda Pressly tells the story of a Tanzanian safe house where girls find refuge from female genital mutilation, a bloody and life-threatening rite of passage.

In northern Tanzania there is a tradition of FGM - female genital mutilation. The 'cutting season' lasts for six weeks. Afterwards, the adolescent victims are often expected to marry. But girls in Serengeti District are saying 'no' to FGM. And dozens of them have fled to a new safe house in the town of Mugumu to escape this bloody, life-threatening rite of passage. For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly travels to Mugumu to meet the girls - and the woman who has given them refuge, Rhobi Samwelly. She listens in as Rhobi engages in delicate and often emotional negotiations with parents intent on mutilating their daughters. Will the girls ever feel safe enough to return home?

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Escaping Tanzania's Cutting Season

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