Korn, Fadumo 1964-

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Korn, Fadumo 1964-

PERSONAL:

Born 1964, in Somalia; married; children: one son.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Munich, Germany.

CAREER:

Forward, Munich, Germany, activist, vice president.

WRITINGS:

(With Sabine Eichhorst) Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival, Rowohlt-Taschenbuch (Hamburg, Germany), 2004, translated from the German and with an afterword by Tobe Levin, Feminist Press at the City University of New York (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Fadumo Korn was born into a nomadic tribe in Somalia. Although her childhood was happy, she was part of a culture that believed in ritualistic female circumcision, and at the age of eight she was forced to undergo the procedure. The harsh treatment left her ill with a severe infection that eventually left her with rheumatism, and her condition worsened steadily. She was finally sent to Germany to receive surgery to straighten her fingers and toes that had curled due to her ailment. While living in Germany, Korn met the man she would eventually marry. She also became involved with Forward, an organization that works against ritual circumcision, and of which she eventually became the vice president. Korn raises funds to help women in Africa with a variety of health issues, but most pressingly with this ritual, and also helps women who have been circumcised to receive medical care and counseling. Korn's book, Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival, chronicles her early life in Somalia to her illness and eventual transport to Germany. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called Korn's effort "a brutally honest, politically sensitive and bold addition to literature on global women's health."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Korn, Fadumo, and Sabine Eichhorst, Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival, Feminist Press at the City University of New York (New York, NY), 2006.