Storyville Season 23 Episode 4

Defying the Cutting Season

Every year during the December school holidays the ‘cutting season’ takes place in Tanzania. Even though Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal, thousands of young girls are forced to undergo an ordeal that could cost them their lives. Defying the Cutting Season follows the brave and courageous girls fighting against a tradition that goes back thousands of years and reveals the one safe place they can escape to. Rhobi Samwelly, who was herself a victim of FGM, now valiantly runs a safe house and works with the local police to rescue and protect girls at risk while arresting parents and cutters. But they have a tough and dangerous job and old customs die hard.