Waubonsee Community College

Asylum, fleeing genital mutilation, directed by Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker

eng

videorecording

For High School; College; Adult audiences

Asylum

electronic resource

747796203

directed by Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker

21

fleeing genital mutilation

Asylum is a powerful tale of a young Ghanian woman whose life suddenly changes when her father insists that she undergo a bloody, life-threatening circumcision and then marry an old man. Although traditional circumcision is now illegal in Ghana, it is still practiced. Baaba Andoh had a happy childhood, raised by her mother who sold vegetables in the market place. Baaba had sought out her long-lost father to seek his blessing for her marriage to the man of her dreams. To her horror, she learned of her father s plan and fled her village. Her father, a man of some means, pursued her. Having no recourse but to leave the country, she obtained a false passport and a ticket to the U.S. with the help of friends. The INS spotted the forgery immediately and arrested her at Newark Airport. She spends a nightmarish year in prison before she is successful in obtaining political asylum. Her chilling story is not unlike that of many of the 7,000 women immigrants now being held in detention, awaiting legal representation and hearings on their claims

general