I owe an apology. It has been months since I recorded the 3rd Annual International Women's Peace Conference and agreed to bring this woman's plight to the attention of as many as I can. I have only now been able to transfer the video and load it to the web. Sorry, Lucy.

Lucy Semeiyan Mashua was born on March 19th, 1978 in Illassit, Loitokitok a remote village in southern Kenya. She is from the nomadic tribe of the Maasai people and is fluent in 10 African languages as well as English and speaks some French and Arabic. She graduated in 1998 from the International Central Management Institute and holds a degree in Hospitality and Public Service specializing in Communications. In 1999, Lucy was the only Kenyan at the time to qualify as an international radio broadcaster with the Voice of America (VOA) radio. Lucy has lived in eight African countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo engaging in social and political activism. In 1999, at the age of 21, Lucy became an activist, speaking out against the subordination and abuse of women, and became a mobilizer of peaceful demonstrations. In September 2003, Lucy was the head of Public Relations and Media at the 13th International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa (ICASA) held in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also volunteered with the International Somalia Rehabilitation Association (ISRA) helping to organize the 2006 International Women’s Day in Baidoa with the Ministry of Gender and Family Affairs in Somalia. She has been on the forefront of the fight against governmental corruption and the misuse of funds in Africa. Her activism soon put her life in danger. Eventually, she had to flee her homeland, leaving behind three young children. In 2006, Lucy came to Dallas seeking asylum. Today, she lives in Grand Prairie and is fighting to gain her asylee status. She is now a member of the United Nations Dallas Chapter. At the age of nine, Lucy could not escape the deep-rooted tradition of female genital circumcision and was forced to undergo the procedure. Then three years later, at the age of 12, she was forced to marry. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a controversial practice that violates several human rights laws set into place by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While speaking out against the genital mutilations performed on girls in her native Kenya, she has faced strong resistance from people in her tribe. She has even had to hide her family for fear of reprisals. Soon her eight year-old niece whom she has adopted as her own daughter will have to endure the procedure. Relatives are keeping her children safe, but she hopes someday to bring all her family members to the U.S. As a result of her horrific experience, Lucy is now fighting hard to stop the tradition of female genital mutilation. She wants to establish rescue camps for girls in her country. “I want to be a voice for the voiceless,” she says. “I would like to start an organization here to help with this,” she said. She hopes that she can help end genital mutilation by raising awareness of the practice. As a survivor of torture, Lucy now speaks out on the following topics: Female genital mutilation, early childhood marriage, forced abortions, human rights abuses, and the abuse of women both physically and emotionally.