Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival

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2008-04-01 Paperback Very Good 190 pages; light edge wear; European bestseller-international spokesperson against "FGM" recounts her recovery from life-threatening female ... circumcision. Read more Show Less

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Overview

“A moving, unsentimental, and informative account of the painful personal experience that inspired, and continues to fuel, [Fadumo Korn’s] work.”—Francine Prose, People magazine, starred critic’s choice

“This impassioned, beautifully written memoir is a testament to the possibility of wedding literary prose to sophisticated political arguments. . . . A brutally honest, politically sensitive, and bold addition to literature on global women’s health.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A courageous . . . indispensable testament.”—Elfriede Jelinek, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Selected as a Kirkus Reviews top pick for...

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More About This Book

Overview

“A moving, unsentimental, and informative account of the painful personal experience that inspired, and continues to fuel, [Fadumo Korn’s] work.”—Francine Prose, People magazine, starred critic’s choice

“This impassioned, beautifully written memoir is a testament to the possibility of wedding literary prose to sophisticated political arguments. . . . A brutally honest, politically sensitive, and bold addition to literature on global women’s health.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A courageous . . . indispensable testament.”—Elfriede Jelinek, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Selected as a Kirkus Reviews top pick for book clubs, Fadumo Korn’s story describes her brutal circumcision at age seven and her agonizing path to physical and psychological recovery.

Born a nomad, freely roaming the Somalian steppes, Korn nearly dies from the effects of female genital mutilation (FGM). As her health deteriorates, Korn is sent to Mogadishu for treatment and, despite the looming civil war, finds herself living amid luxury in the household of her uncle, a relative of the Somali president. Escaping the political upheaval, she travels to Europe for advanced medical care and eventually becomes an anti-FGM activist.

Fadumo Korn is the vice president of FORWARD-Germany, an organization dedicated to promoting action to stop FGM. She lives with her husband and son in Munich.

Writer and radio journalist Sabine Eichhorst is the author of Courage to Defend Yourself: Strategies against Sexual Violence and A Long Way Home: A Prisoner of Uzbekistan.

Dr. Tobe Levin is collegiate professor at the University of Maryland in Europe and co-founder of FORWARD-Germany.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Beginning with its evocative opening sentence "In the distance, a lion roared, deep and long, dismissing the night" this impassioned, beautifully written memoir is a testament to the possibility of wedding literary prose to sophisticated political arguments. Korn grew up as a spirited girl in an Islamic Somalian nomadic tribe in the late 1960s. At seven she was forced to undergo female circumcision, in which her clitoris and labia minora were removed with crude utensils and her vagina sewn up. After chronic pain, illness and rheumatism set in, Korn went to live with her rich uncle, a government official in Mogadishu, until her circumcision-related ailments became debilitating; she was taken to Germany for medical treatment, and years later her circumcision was undone. Married to a German, Korn became involved in the European campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM). While the bulk of the book is a devastating and swiftly moving account of Korn's tragedy-filled life, it also persuasively argues that health workers must understand the power of traditional customs even as they work to end FGM. Written with German writer Eichhorst, this is a brutally honest, politically sensitive and bold addition to literature on global women's health. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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From The Critics
Born in the Somalian desert, Fadumo Husen was a happy child in a loving nomadic family, but everything changed for her when, at the age of seven, she was circumcised. Circumcision was a tradition for all Somalian girls at that time. They were told that once they were circumcised, they would be "pure" and "clean" and a woman. For Fadumo, circumcision was followed by intense fevers and swelling in all her limbs. Her resulting rheumatism so crippled and disabled her that her father finally took her to Mogadishu to see his half-brother, a doctor. There followed other doctors, other hospitals in Italy and Germany, but only temporary relief. Finally, in Germany, Faduma found a surgeon able to reduce some of the effects of the original circumcision. The saga of Fadumo's physical and psychological pain is a beautifully written backdrop to the story of her eventual crusade against the custom of female "cutting"—"cutting" because many women reject the phrase "female mutilation" as implying that they have been damaged by the process. She found the group FORWARD (Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development) and became an activist against female circumcision. There are two stories interwoven in this smooth-flowing text. One is personal, the story of Fadumo's life, her family, and her eventual marriage and the birth of her son. The second is that of the growing social movement in favor of African women and against female genital mutilation. Each story has its own development and outcome. Together they are a reading experience not to be missed. Reviewer: Patricia Moore

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781558615786
  • Publisher: Feminist Press at CUNY, The
  • Publication date: 4/1/2008
  • Pages: 196
  • Sales rank: 680,936
  • Series: Women Writing Africa Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 0.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Born in 1964, Fadumo Korn is the vice president of FORWARD-Germany, an organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of African women and girls, and to promoting action to stop harmful tradition practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). She lives with her husband and son in Munich. Sabine Eichhorst is the author of Courage to Defend Yourself: Strategies against Sexual Violence and A Long Way Home: Prisoner of Uzbekistan. Tobe Levin is professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Maryland in Europe and adjunct at the University of Frankfurt. She is the editor of Feminist Europa, and the chair of FORWARD - Germany against FGM (female genital mutilation). She was elected secretary of the European Network against Harmful Traditional Practices, especially FGM (Brussels).

Table of Contents

Nomadic Life     1
In Mogadishu     59
In Germany     105
Epilogue     169
Afterword: FGM, A Note on Advocacy and Women's Human Rights     171
Addresses     185
Reading Group Guide     187
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