Fauziya Kassindja

In Wie hoort mijn tranen vertelt Fauziya Kassindja uit Togo haar verhaal. Toen ze 17 was werd ze gedwongen te trouwen had, en moest ze alsnog besneden worden. Om aan dit vernederende en zeer pijnlijke ritueel te ontkomen ontvluchtte Fauziya haar vaderland. Ze wist Amerika te bereiken. Daar werd ze onder slechte omstandigheden 16 maanden opgesloten in afwachting van een beslissing over haar asielaanvraag. De juriste Layli Miller Bashir trok zich Fauziya's lot aan en na een lange gerachtelijke procedure behaalde ze een dubbele overwinning: Fauziya kreeg asiel en het besnijden van vrouwen tegen hun wil is voortaan in Amerika reden tot asielverlening.… (más)

Born into a happy middle class family in Togo, the author's life suddenly undergoes a horrific change when her beloved father suddenly dies. His siblings - hostile to his wife- seize the property, evict her, and arrange for the teenage author to be removed from school and become fourth wife to a much older man...and undergo FGM first. But her escape to Germany, and later the US brings a lengthy spell i grim American detention centres and jails until human rights workers can get the ruling against her overturned.
There are a number of autobiographies on this theme, and I found this more readable and engrossing than some others. It certainly gives a depressing slant on the whole topic of how immigrants are treated.
I did find it (at almost 700 pages) a tad long.… (más)

This book made me really interested in the process of claiming asylum. I've never thought much about asylum, but reading a personal account of someone suffering through the process really made me more interested in learning more about those seeking asylum. i went through a phase of reading a lot of books written by and about people in prison, all of which have been depressing to read, but her story added a whole new dimension. she had to suffer all of horrible things that happen in prison without even having a complete understanding of united states culture. i hope that everything she suffered through really did help other women who are claiming asylum for gender based persecution… (más)