Fatuma Abdulahi, The Woman With A Somali Sword In Her Head

7/25/2019 Fatuma Abdulahi, The Woman With A Somali Sword In Her Head

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Fatuma Abdulahi, The Woman With A Somali

Sword In Her Head

By Wanjeri Nderu

Fatuma on the right after sword (held by surgeon) was removed from her

head

Fatuma, a woman aged thirty two recently hit our news headlines

as the woman with a Somali sword in her head. She may only

be thirty two, but at frst glance one would be orgiven or

thinking she was over fty years old.

Fatuma has no upper ront teeth. They are missing. testament

to the violence meted out on her in the past by her husband. The

worry lines on her ace are deep. !er skin looks ashen. "ips are

dry and cracked. !er rame is small, skin clinging to bone. !er

eyes are sunken and dark. #ne look at her and the obvious hard

lie she lives is evident.

Fatuma has scars all over her body as a result o previous

beatings. $hat was she supposed to do% $here was shesupposed to go with our little mouths to eed% Those were some

o the &uestions she asked hersel every time his violence reared

its ugly head. She was his human punching bag, and she was

used to it.


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#n the evening o 'th(anuary )*+' her husband stabbed her

times on various parts o her body with a Somali Sword which

fnally ound its fnal resting place inside her head.

ccording to Fatuma, who could only narrate her ordeal through atranslator since she does not speak -nglish or Swahili, her

husband intended to kill her. -very time he lited the sword to

stab her, he shouted / will kill you01. $hen he fnally stabbed her

head, he tried to dislodge the sword to continue stabbing her but

it was stuck ast. !e could not remove it. The sword had ound its

home, /nside Fatumas head.

2hotos o Fatuma with a short Somali sword lodged in her head hit

social media. 3enyans on twitter 43#T5 started a campaign to tryand save her. Fatuma was at $a6ir 7ounty !ospital where the

medics had been unable to remove the sword. 8sing the hashtag

9(usticeForFatuma, 3#T appealed to several organi:ations to help

Fatuma. ;ew her to ?airobi

where she was admitted at 3enyatta ?ational !ospital. Fatuma,

like many Somali 3enyans in the villages does not have an

identity card. This initially made her airlit almost impossibile until

the area chie intervened and wrote a letter to enable her travel.She was wheeled into surgery at midnight on the tho (anuary

)*+', where the ten inch blade was successully removed.

Fatumas head played host to the blade or over thirty hours.

Fatuma was discharged on the +' tho (anuary )*+'. !er abuser is

in police custody. She is hoping he will be ound guilty and 6ailed.

=id we as 3#T do enough or her% / believe we did the best we

could. $e saved a womans lie by coming together to ampliyher cry or help. Fatuma needs more help, but where will it come

rom%


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in their house or our days. She was treated at 3enyatta ?ational

!ospital where doctors recommended urther surgery which she

cannot a@ord.

$here are the so called women issue organi:ations that have thecapacity to o@er 3hadi6a, Fatuma and others in their situation,

post recovery help and support% $here are the ?B#s or $omen

leaders%

/s it also time we asked the hard and uncomortable &uestions

that surround the role o =< 4lternative =ispute


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nother eDample is when seDual violence has occurred. / a girl

child is raped, she becomes an outcast in the community. The

elders fne the perpetrator, then order him to marry the victim to

redeem her worth. So i a man eyes a young girl he is interested

in, all he has to do is rape her knowing very well part o thepunishment will be to marry her. These types o cases are

rampant in the region with many girls who have been violated,

unable to continue with their education, i they were lucky enough

to be enrolled in school, since they have to marry the men who

rape them.

The same applies to murder cases. The elders fne the perpetrator

what they term blood money. The clan is fned collectively on

behal o the accused and the fne is paid to the victims clan. The

crime stops being an individuals responsibility.

;aslaha may be good or some cases but it is high time a review

o what they handle is done. ;8

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Fatuma Abdulahi, The Woman With A Somali Sword In Her Head