When Adama was just two years old, she was a victim of female genital mutilation in Senegal, where she lived until 2009. She was not aware of it until many years later, when she was an adult and pregnant, during a visit to the midwife. “I was in shock. They took a part of me without asking for my permission,” she recalls.
In December 2025, she underwent genital reconstruction surgery at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona, carried out by Dr Mariona Rius, a specialist in the Gynaecology Department at the Clínic Institute of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology. “The healing of these wounds leaves very large, thick scars, which makes the entire area highly insensitive. In many cases, performing the reconstructive surgery and putting everything back in its place helps them regain sensitivity,” says Dr Rius.
Adama shares her story to help other women who have been through the same situation and to raise awareness of a reality that still affects millions of girls and women around the world.
An unexpected discovery
Adama grew up not knowing she had been mutilated. The procedure had been carried out when she was a baby, and no one had ever spoken to her about it. It was not until she became pregnant and went for a midwife appointment that she found out what had happened to her. “When they told me, I couldn't believe it. I had to ask my mother. I was left speechless, in shock. It's so hard to know that something like that was done to you when you were so little, and that they took a part of your body without your consent,” she explains.
After that conversation, she was referred to the Clínic, where a specialist team assessed her and explained what the reconstructive surgery would involve. “When they explained it to me, I knew straight away. I decided right then and there that I wanted to have the reconstruction.”
