Wellingara, The Gambia – As The Gambia’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on the country’s ban on female genital mutilation on Wednesday, survivors say the decision could determine whether their daughters remain protected by law or face the same trauma they endured.In Wellingara, girls run barefoot across a sandy compound, their laughter mingling with the afternoon call to prayer. They dart through the yard, full of energy and unaware that a legal battle unfolding in the country’s highest court could shape their future.From beneath a mango tree, Mariama Jabbie watches them closely.Her daughters are six and nine, the same age she was when women from her village took her away to be cut. She remembers little of that day, but nearly three decades later, the pain has never left her.Now 28, Mariama said female genital mutilation (FGM) has shaped every stage of her life. The trauma extended far beyond the procedure itself, following her into adulthood, marriage and motherhood. Today, it has become a constant fear that her daughters could suffer the same fate.That fear intensified late last year when a three-month-old baby died after what authorities said was a clandestine FGM procedure not far from her home in Wellingara, about 15km (9 miles) from the capital, Banjul.“I am always on high alert,” she told Al Jazeera. “I worry that a relative could take my daughters without m …
