Do They Hear You When You Cry

Author: Fauziya Kassindja
Secondary Author: Layli Miller Bashir
ISBN: 9780385319942

For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death.  Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare forkakia,the ritual also known as female genital mutilation.  It is a ritual no woman can refuse.  But Fauziya dared to try.   This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritualkakiawas to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S.  prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars.  Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic.  In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's beha

Publisher: Delta
Publish Date: 1999-01

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Women, History / Africa / General, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Biography/Autobiography)