Fatima contacted the BBC World Service citizen journalism project, Your Story, because she wanted to share her experiences of sexual abuse growing up within a strict Muslim family in Abu Dhabi.

She suffered many years of abuse before she finally told her mother what had been going on.

Fatima is now 26. She lives in the United States of America where she has just been given asylum and citizenship after establishing that she would be in danger if she returned to her home country.

If you want to join the discussion go to the BBC World Service Your Story blog

Publication date 27 March 2009
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Produced by Emma Lynch and Alicia Trujillo.

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Audio slideshow: Fatima's story