"November [of 2015] was very big for me. First of all, I decided that I would spend my birthday in Gambia, and that one of the things I wanted to do was to meet the president. I want to change the laws there regarding FGM, so part of my plan was to lobby the government, file a petition with the courts, and get them to make FGM illegal."I knew the president was touring around the country, so I decided to chase after him, following him first to one village, where I wasn’t able to see him, then to the next village. When he found out that I was around, he asked some cabinet members to sit with me and see what I wanted. So I talked with them, then sent a proposal explaining why it was so important for them to take action against FGM.""Well, two days later, I was back home and I got a telephone call. That’s when I learned President Jammeh was about to ban FGM in Gambia. So I hopped on a plane and finally got to meet him. He asked me why I was so against FGM, and I told him about my experiences. He said that he wouldn’t want his daughters to go through that, and so he wouldn’t allow it for other Gambian girls and women. He also promised me that he would be a father figure in my life. When my staff told my father that the president had adopted me, my father immediately said, 'Did you tell him you already have a dad?'""In 2014, I filed a petition on Change.org asking the government to do a study to see how many women in the U.S. have gone through FGM. More than 221,000 people signed, and the Centers for Disease Control is now going to do the report.""Emotionally, this whole experience has been difficult and it continues to be hard. To this day, people in my community tell me that I’ve sold my soul to the West, that I’ve forgotten Islam, that I’ve been brainwashed and don’t know who I am. I get these accusations online, and recently someone told my husband that I’ve sold my religion because of money. None of that is true. I’ve used my entire 401(k) for the Safe Hands campaign, and I don’t get any money for what I do. When I was working as a banker, I was getting promoted every six months, but I quit that job to devote more time to Safe Hands. I haven’t forgotten who I am. My identity is strong. I love who I am, and I love what I’m doing."