麻豆约拍

Salimata Badji Knight is a survivor of FGM, female genital mutilation, which is the cultural practice of removing part of the genitals of a girl or woman for non-medical reasons. Salimata was raised in a Muslim community in Senegal and later in Paris. Her story is about forgiving her parents and indeed her whole culture for the violence that was done to her when she was just four years old. For a long time, she was filled with rage and blamed all the people who had allowed her to be cut. But out of rage came compassion, and the realisation that this was not her mother鈥檚 fault, nor the fault of the women who had carried it out.

鈥淚 was able to talk to my father. I explained the physical and mental damage caused by FGM. He cried, and said that no woman had ever explained the suffering to him. Then he apologised and asked for forgiveness. The next day he called my relatives in Senegal and, as a result, dozens of girls were saved from FGM.鈥�

Marina Cantacuzino is an award-winning journalist who became interested in forgiveness at the time of the Iraq War. It鈥檚 a subject she鈥檚 explored now for many years, in books and through founding a charity, 鈥楾he Forgiveness Project鈥�. A common theme running through these stories is that forgiveness is difficult, messy, and complex, but it brings with it the power to transform lives.

Producer: Kim Normanton
Executive Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Just Radio production for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4