Nice Nailantei Leng'ete

"“This is about the countless girls, women, boys, men, and elders all over Kenya and Africa who dare today are working to bring female genital mutilation and child marriage to an end,”"

"“They will say, ‘We did this because we believed in it, but now we want to encourage girls to go back to school,”"

"Was when I was eight years old, my sister and I ran away at four a.m. and hid in a tree to escape from the cut. The next day I went to him, my grandfather was the first person who I could convince that the cut was not necessary, and was the first person who listened to me. He changed my life, and that’s why today I am the woman of my dreams. Thank you"

"And the second toast is to my elder sister, Soila, she was with me the first time I ran away, but the next time I escaped, she gave up because of the beatings we received from our family members. She was first one that got the cut at the age of ten, and since that was the only way she will be considered a woman in my own community, and that’s why I do this work today because of the sacrifice she made for me then"

"We are simply saying let's retain the good part of our culture, because we have so much that is good in our culture that we don't have to do away with"

"In the whole process of circumcision, what we hate is the cut. All the rituals, blessings from cultural leaders, people dressing in their traditional clothes as dancing and singing our beautiful songs — it's not harmful. It's good"

"Remember, they don't know how circumcision is done for girls or women, because they are not allowed to be there. ... They don't know where it's cut, or what is being done to them"

"And once they see these videos, that's when they see the pain that these girls undergo, and that's when they say: 'I will not allow my daughter, or I will not allow my sister to undergo the same"