These Are Our Friends is a collection of poems from FORWARD’s Young People Speak Out programme which addresses the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The evening will include:

• Spoken word performances
• Screening of the short film, ‘These Are Our Friends’, made by FORWARD and Media Trust
• Showcase of five amazing pieces of work commissioned to accompany poetry from the book
• Signed prints of the artwork for sale on the night
• Many guest speakers including Richard ‘Rich Blk’ Mkoloma, FORWARD Youth Advocates, Scherrikar Bell (actress in the film) and more

Suggested entry donation: £5, drinks will be on sale with all profits going towards FORWARD’s work to end FGM.

Please RSVP before 29th October to [email protected] and call Naomi on 0208 960 4000 with any queries.

More details:

FORWARD is an African Diaspora women-led campaign and support charity dedicated to advancing and safeguarding the reproductive health and rights of African girls and women. FORWARD focuses on tackling female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and obstetric fistula.

YSPO: Young People Speak Out is FORWARD’s Youth programme that works with young people (aged 16-24) from FGM affected communities to equip them with the skills to advocate within their local communities against FGM.

The book of poems ‘These Are Our Friends’ is the result of a longer creative project that used spoken word as a tool for young people to widen their knowledge on FGM, explore girls’ and women’s experiences of FGM and amplify their voices as Youth Advocates on the issue.

Young people from London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham took part in this project. The collection of poems highlights that FGM is an issue in the UK and not just a problem that occurs in ‘another faraway country’ that FGM is a problem for everyone and it is a problem that is happening in OUR communities.

The artwork for the posters commissioned for this project are beautiful interpretations of some of the poems from the book. The artists are: Sadia Rafique, Gabrielle Smith, Lulu Kitolo, Justin McKenzie and OddKinCreate.