text:  Now, almost 230 million women and girls around the world have undergone some form of female genital mutilation, the partial or total removal of the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Over half of them are in Africa. Shamsa Sharawe and Haja Bilkisu underwent corrective surgery in Europe to repair the physical damage done to them as children. The procedure is, however, not available in most African countries.