Teen FGM survivor dreams of defending girls

TARIME: AT just 16, Bhoke (name changed to protect her identity) has already made one of the bravest decisions of her life.

When the pressure to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) intensified in her home community in Tarime District, she chose to run instead of surrendering her future.

Today, she lives at the Hope for Women and Girls Safe House in Butiama, Mara Region, where she has found safety, healing and the confidence to dream again.

“I refused to believe that my future had to end with FGM,” she says.

“I knew I deserved an education, the freedom to make my own choices and the chance to become the person I dream of being.”

Leaving home was painful. It meant walking away from familiar faces and risking rejection from her community. But arriving at the safe house gave her something she feared she had lost forever—hope.

Now back in school, Bhoke receives psychosocial support, life-skills training and encouragement from caregivers and other girls who have survived similar experiences. Slowly, she is rebuilding her confidence. She wants to become a lawyer and defend girls whose voices are too often silenced.

“One day I will stand in court and speak for girls who cannot speak for themselves,” she says.

“I want every girl to know that she has rights and that no harmful practice should determine her future.”

Her story reflects the importance of protection services for girls at risk of FGM and child marriage.

Through the Chaguo Langu Haki Yangu (My Choice, My Rights) programme, UNFPA and the Government are supporting safe houses, Police Gender and Children’s Desks and One Stop Centres that provide survivors with medical care, counselling, legal support and referrals.

The programme is supported by the Government of Finland, the Embassy of Ireland and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Beyond survivor services, the initiative works with local leaders, health workers, civil society organisations and community groups to challenge harmful social norms and promote girls’ rights. For Bhoke, those services have meant much more than protection.

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“They restored my confidence. They restored my education. Most importantly, they restored my belief that my future belongs to me.”

UNFPA Representative in Tanzania, Mark Bryan Schreiner says every girl protected from FGM represents a future leader whose potential can flourish.

“Protecting girls from harmful practices is a human rights imperative and an investment in Tanzania’s future,” he says.

As the world marks International Youth Day 2026 under the theme Different Contexts, Common Aspirations, Bhoke’s story carries a simple but powerful message.

“FGM did not define me, and it will not define my future,” she says. Her dream is no longer about escaping fear.

It is about one day wearing a lawyer’s robe and ensuring that other girls never have to choose between their safety and their future.