Aisha got her first call from the terrorists when she was fourteen. It was , and she was at home, in Mogadishu, Somalia, when an unknown number appeared on her phone. She picked up. The man on the other end told her that Islam does not allow women to play sports, or to wear shirts and pants. It was immodest and indecent, he said.

And they come looking for Dr. Abdul "Dhegacaade" Giama. Dhegacaade — he goes by that middle name, a nickname that means "white ears," because his ears were lighter than the rest of his face when he was born — is warm and friendly, the kind of guy whom you immediately trust. They come to Dhegacaade as a last resort: Talking about sex is taboo in this conservative Muslim town, but the only other option is divorce. It sounds brutal, because no matter what the motivation or justification, the act itself is brutal: Every bit of female genitalia is removed, with a knife or a razor, and a girl is stitched from where the clitoris was down to the vagina. Nothing is left except a very small hole, for urine and menstruation.

The execution of a third man, Abdisalam Abdirahman Warsame, 32, who is the brother of Abdifatah, was delayed for ten days. The girl was abducted near her home, gang raped and then brutally killed in the town of Galkayo in February The rape and murder of Aden sparked widespread public outcry and calls for justice. The hashtag JusticeforAisha trended, while many chose to use her photo as their social media profiles. Authorities in Puntland arrested ten men in connection with the case.

My family was a tribe of herdsmen in the Somalian desert. And as a child, the freedom I had to experience nature's sights, sounds and smells was pure joy. We watched lions baking in the sun. We ran with giraffes, zebras and foxes.