Boloko [English translation]

They cut the flower that made me a woman

Don’t cut the flower that makes me a woman

If you circumcise girls

You will make their intimate moments difficult

They will always have health problems

I beg you mother,

don’t make them circumcise me, it hurts so much!

I beg you father,

don’t make them circumcise me, it hurts so much!

They cut it…

Mother, stop female circumcision!

If you circumcise girls

You will make their intimate moments difficult

They will always have problems with childbirth

They will always have health problems

It hurts so much!

It hurts so much!

It hurts so much!

Don’t circumcise girls

It hurts so much!

It hurts so much!

African women live through too much hell

African women live through too much suffering

It hurts so much!

We should look again at our ancestral beliefs and assess them

It hurts so much!

Keep what is good for us, and reject all that harms us

It hurts so much!

African women live through too much hell

African women live through too much suffering

It hurts so much!

It hurts so much!

It hurts so much!

Mother…

• Artist:Fatoumata Diawara
• Album:Fatou (2011)