Survivor of female genital mutilation, Djabu Balde speaks out on behalf of 230 million girls and women

Djabu Balde, a Guinea‑Bissau‑born, Guinea‑Spanish actress and model, has published Entre dos Madres (Between Two Mothers), a candid autobiography that has grown into a global awareness campaign against female genital mutilation. Balde’s life has been marked by FGM before age three or four, uprooting, migration and the search for belonging between two worlds. The book weaves memory, identity and resilience, tracing Balde’s bond with her biological mother and the woman who raised her in Spain, while charting her ascent as an actress, businesswoman and mother. The narrative rejects victimhood and foregrounds healing, pain, refuge and rebuilding as part of a deeply human testimony about living with FGM.