But the horrific stories they had come to tell were surprisingly similar. Stories of gruesome rituals and suffocating family pressure; of two teenage brides a world apart, who somehow found the nerve to defy fate and escape to freedomNot victims of tradition: Women emerge as symbols for girls facing abusive fatesWashington PostShe was referring to “kakia,” the ritual of crude circumcision that girls in her native country were traditionally forced to endure.