Sylvia Chioma: How my Twitter advocacy ended FGM in parts of Nigeria

Sylvia Chioma is the founder of Girdle, a non-profit organisation that runs an online and field awareness programme to sensitise the world to the complications and criminality of female genital mutilation (FGM) using real life stories.

Beyond FGM, she now creates awareness of breast ironing (the pounding and massaging of a pubescent girl's breasts, using hard or heated objects, to prevent them from developing or to make them disappear), child or early marriage and virginity testing. She also advocates against lesser known harmful practices like Trokosi, which occurs in Ghana, Togo and Benin where young virgin girls are offered to shrine elders for sexual exploitation. She tells Nation.Africa her story.

Who is Chioma?

I am the second daughter and third child of our family. I was born in a rural community south of Nigeria. Most of our kinsmen were either farmers or fishermen, though my father chose to be an artisan and, occasionally, performed as an entertainer at parties and other functions. My childhood was a typical ‘village life’. We went to the farm and to the stream to wash, bathe and fetch water. But I did not spend most of my childhood in the village because my uncle took me to the city to live with his family. But before then, as was the norm for girls in my community, I was circumcised. 

Why did you decide to venture into Twitter advocacy? 

About eight years ago, I was on the background running an anti-rape advocacy for a friend on Twitter. While browsing online for content, I discovered that FGM was also rampant and I was moved to take action. I then started my advocacy, specifically on FGM because I understood the trauma caused by the practice. I opened my Twitter account using a Tecno M3 phone that had a shattered screen (she laughs). The phone was so bad that I would be in Nigeria, and ask a Kenyan friend – Stella Aswani – to help me screenshot some pictures that I needed. She helped until I was able to buy a better phone. I was so passionate; I did not wait to have state-of-the-art devices to start my work.

Are you as active on other social media platforms?

While working on my friend’s anti-rape campaign, I saw at first hand the power of Twitter in terms of publicity and how easily one could connect with like-minded people across the world. So, naturally, I chose to start the Girdle on Twitter. I must confess that other social media platforms are not as women-friendly. We were on Facebook, but our accounts have been closed twice, so we abandoned it and concentrated on Twitter and Instagram, though the latter frequently flags our content as ‘too graphic’ as we show the real scars of FGM. 

What was the reception when you first started sharing FGM stories on Twitter?

When I started in 2018, the reception was very harsh. Many people would openly insult me online. Fortunately, I received support from renowned anti-FGM campaigners such as Hibo Wadere from Somalia and Gisselle Portenier of Canada EndFGM who would motivate and urge me on. I cannot thank them enough, not forgetting Stella, my Kenyan friend. So far so good. It has been a success story because, today, some of our posts reach up to six million people.

Do you do it all alone, or do you receive support? 

In terms of manpower, I work with two other women and a man. We will soon open doors to get more hands on board because the advocacy has grown significantly even beyond Nigeria. 

You publish many stories; how do you get them? 

My mastery of the Internet and how to use Google to source the latest news on FGM is our weapon. The team is always online, searching for these stories. Many women also send their personal stories – with a plea of anonymity at times – and with my experience, I edit the stories to bring out what matters most. Additionally, we go to villages and urban areas, at times, to secretly interview girls and women who have undergone the cut. 

What are some of the challenges you have encountered in your advocacy? 

FGM is a religio-cultural problem. We get threats from all sides (Islam, Christianity and Traditionalists). It is like we are destroying an integral part of their belief system. One man used a woman to trick me to meet him in a secluded place, but it was our cleverness that saved me on that day. We instead sent the man in our team to meet ‘her’. Unsurprisingly, two men came out at the rendezvous and a scuffle ensued. We have reported such cases to the police and they advised us to not leave our details on social media. Still, our direct messages are never spared. We often receive threats but disregard them and move on with our work. Also, funding remains a big challenge, especially for organisations like ours that do not have government or corporate support.

How do you overcome these challenges?

On the problem of security, we are very careful of the people we meet. If an event does not have police protection, we do not attend. Also, when we are invited to a place, we do background check before going. On funding, we raise money among ourselves to run our activities. Our followers have been very good to us; when we appeal for funds they donate to support our projects.

You often say your experience in teaching has contributed to the growth of the Girdle, elaborate.

I have had a burning passion to teach since my early teens and volunteered a lot in that field. Teaching takes a lot of explanation, breaking things down for your students to assimilate. I believe that part of me – to explain things in detail – is why the Girdle is growing beyond our expectations and changing lives. One of our secrets in the Girdle is the way we connect with people. FGM advocacy is so sensitive that without effective communication and proper teaching skills, one would not be successful in breaking the harmful traditional practices.

What have been some of your most successful and rewarding moments since you started this advocacy?

There have been many and, sincerely, I cannot pick. Was it the one time we rescued a nine-year-old girl from circumcision and even stopped FGM in her community? Was it when we stopped the cut on a five-year-old girl in Lagos (an assumed abode of the civilised ones in Nigeria?) Or was it when we had a stormy tweet chat with the Liberian Minister for Gender when we fact-checked the complications of FGM, which she presumed to know? Or still, is it the many other anti-FGM advocates who continue to take up the fight because of the uniqueness of our advocacy? Every step has been a successful and rewarding moment for us.

Finally, what is the future of Girdle?  

Our future is linked to that of girls and women in the world, and that future is to keep fighting until violence against womanhood is ended. I am appealing to corporate and government sponsors to concentrate on grassroots organisations, they might be small and don’t have the requirements to present themselves as organisations, but, believe me, if they were carried along, a lot of harmful practices would have been stopped.

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