FURTHER INFORMATION ON The Day Kadi Lost Part of Her Life Map showing prevalence of FGM Publishers Spinifex responds to some hard questions on FGM

The Day Kadi Lost Part of Her Life Book Development Kim Manresa has travelled extensively through Africa, often together with Africanist David Serra, who works for several European museums, as well as a travel guide. Thanks to David's contacts, Kim has been able to take photos that nobody else would have been able to. Sharing people's daily life: their food, their water and their floors to sleep on, was the only way Kim and his camera were allowed into their lives. All photographs by Kim Manresa in Africa have been taken with a very simple second hand camera; he never uses his expensive equipment so that it does not become a burden. This way, he can also let the people he comes in contact with use his camera for fun, and thus become more confident with Kim too.

Kim and David have known Kadi«s family for some time. When they were told that Kadi was going to undergo FGM, Kim asked to be allowed to document the act. Some months earlier he had taken pictures of the ritual practised on a one-year-old girl without really knowing what was going on and fainted in shock. Kadi«s ritual was a unique chance to explain the suffering of millions of women to the entire world. He asked colleague Isabel Ramos to join him in documenting the procedure. Isabel is an expert on Arabic and North African issues and was well acquainted with the subject, having previously researched FGM as practised among immigrant women living in Europe.

Prior to the ritual, Kim, Isabel and David stayed with Kadi«s family for several days sharing their life. They spent lots of time playing with the children of the village, including Kadi, gaining her confidence and becoming friends.

When the day arrived, as the book shows, they all travelled together in to the place she was going to suffer FGM. Unlike the others, Kadi had no idea and thought they were travelling for fun.

Various anthropologists and journalists have taken pictures of FGM but none have been as poetic, strong and true as Kim«s, as none were intended to tell such a personal story as The Day Kadi Lost Part of Her Life does.

On their return to Barcelona, Kim and Isabel decided to sell the pictures and text to the La Vanguardia Magazine, a four colour weekend supplement. Knowing it was a tough subject the paper decided to take a risk and publish a selection of the pictures and even dedicate the front cover to the reportage in November 1997. The reaction of the public was extraordinary: phone lines were jammed with hundreds of people calling to congratulate the newspaper for explaining the practice of FGM and hundreds of letters were sent asking what could be done to stop the practice.

The front cover of La Vanguardia Magazine was reproduced in many European newspapers and Kim Manresa was subsequently awarded the Silver Medal for Photojournalism of the Society of Newspaper Design in the USA, the Visa d'Or for L'Image del Festival International du Photojournalisme in Perpignan (France) and the Human Rights Award for the International Week of Photojournalism of Gijon (Spain).

Kim Manresa and his agent, Anna Soler-Pont, decided to turn Kadi«s story into a book which was taken on by Spanish Publishers, Blume. Renowned Nigerian doctor and activist against FGM Dr. Olayinka Koso-Thomas was asked to write a preface, and the Foundation for Women«s Health Research and Development (FORWARD) were suggested as a cause to receive part proceeds from books sales to go towards their several projects aimed at eliminating FGM. Rights were sold for the English language to Spinifex Press and to publishing houses in Germany, France and Holland for publication in 1999.