The CT Coalition to End FGM/C is a member of the U.S. End FGM/C Network. We are a survivor-led coalition working to ensure that the State of Connecticut joins with 41 other states – including its neighboring states of New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts – to end female genital mutilation and cutting.
MARIYA TAHER is a writer and a social worker who has been working on issues of gender-based violence for over a decade. She is a survivor of FGM/C, the co-founder of Sahiyo, an organization dedicated to working with communities to end FGM/C, and sits on the steering committee of the US End FGM/C Network.
ABSA SAMBA is a survivor and an activist against FGM/C. As a survivor, Absa aspires to see a world free of female genital mutilation so girls like herself can grow to their full potential.
ZEHRA PATWA is the Co-Founder of WeSpeakOut, an organization that strives to work for equal rights for Bohra women in all spheres of life. As a long-time resident of Connecticut and survivor of FGM/C, Zehra is working to eliminate FGM/C to ensure that our state is a safe haven from the practice of FGM/C.
SIMENESH COMOLLO is a Survivor Support Specialist for Bloom Initiative Greater Hartford. As a victim and survivor of FGM, she wants to end the practice that infringes on the rights of young girls and causes them to deal with inner trauma. Her passion is to continue to empower women, eventually working toward becoming a women’s rights activist.
JOETTE KATZ, former Connecticut Supreme Court Associate Justice, served as Commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Children and Families for eight years. Joette was also involved at nearly every level in the fight against sex trafficking, working with the legislature to enact Connecticut’s Trafficking of Minor Children Law.
FAITH VOS WINKEL worked with the Office of the Child Advocate for twenty-one years, and represented the Child Advocate on a variety of statewide policy committees including the Suicide Advisory Board, CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee, and the Governor’s Task Force on Justice for Abused Children.
ZAHRA QAIYUMI is an anti-female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) advocate and medical student at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She grew up in a community in which girls and women are impacted by FGM/C and is a survivor herself. Zahra also participates in projects focused on community engagement through Sahiyo, an organization dedicated to working with communities to end FGM/C.
LESLIE KOONS serves as the research coordinator at IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services) in New Haven, Connecticut, having joined the organization in 2012 as health & wellness coordinator. She collaborates with clients, medical providers, researchers, and other stakeholders to ensure quality, culturally-relevant care, healthcare system navigation, health literacy education, and equitable decolonized research partnerships. Leslie represents IRIS as the Connecticut partner in the African Immigrant Health Research Collaborative (AIHRC) and is dedicated to advancing IRIS’s mission of strengthening hope in Connecticut’s newest community members.
JO KEOGH, is a Licensed Professional Counseling Associate and specializes in treating women with PTSD resulting from FGM/C, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape. Jo is a member of the US End FMG/C network and an advisory board member at Sahiyo, an organization committed to ending FGM/C.
CAITLIN LEMAY is the Director of the U.S. End FGM/C Network. Caitlin has been working in the gender-based violence movement for over a decade. Her experience has included providing direct service counseling to survivors of trauma, though her true passion remains in gender-based violence prevention. As a Licensed Certified Social Worker (LCSW), she is uniquely able to bridge the gap between direct clinical services and bigger-picture systems change, always centering the voices of those most impacted by violence.
KRYSTAL RICH is the Executive Director of the Connecticut Children’s Alliance (CCA), a statewide membership organization founded to provide support to CT’s 9 Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) and 17 Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) across Connecticut through education, training and resources. In addition, Krystal is a tri-chair for CT’s Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team out of the Department for Children and Families as well as a member of several statewide committees dedicated to supporting child victims of abuse.
STEPHANIE Z. ROBERGE is an accomplished trial attorney who has practiced law for 30 years, and currently serves as President of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA), an organization dedicated to protecting individual rights through fair laws and access to justice. Stephanie is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers where she currently serves as the diversity liaison, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and participates in the American Association for Justice.
KELLY VAUGHAN is the founder of Global Girls Worldwide Women, a social justice platform that provides resources and advocates for the safety of girls and women. Informed as an ethicist and fueled by a passion for human rights, equity, and justice, she is committed to working for the safety and opportunity for girls and women to pursue their aspirations unencumbered by violence and inequity.
MARTINE DHERTE is the Program Manager for refugee services at the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. She uses her platform to educate newly arrived refugees resettled by her organization in Bridgeport.
CAROLINE SENNETT is the Director of Immigration Legal Services for the Connecticut Institute for Refugees & Immigrants, which provides leadership, compassionate service, and effective advocacy for vulnerable populations, including immigrants, refugees, and survivors of human trafficking and torture. She is passionate about addressing and ending human rights abuses and gender-based violence.
SANA SARR has been a CT resident since 2001. Sana understands the impact of FGM very well, observing, “I was born and raised in The Gambia, West Africa, where FGM is a common practice and majority of the girls and women in my family have been through it. I have many family members and friends and know the physical and mental struggles they continue to suffer well into adulthood, including difficulty with sexual relations and during childbirth.”
DEBORAH BENSON is an advocate for gender equality. A retired Boston attorney who also has a home in Litchfield County, Deborah is a Massachusetts Access to Justice Fellow who led the effort on behalf of the Women’s Bar Association to pass the legislation to address FGM in the Commonwealth.