Toufah Jallow's journey unfolds as she flees The Gambia for Canada, courageously identifying herself as a survivor of sexual assault by the country's dictator, igniting a remarkable protest movement. In 2015, at eighteen, she was the daughter of a polygamous Muslim family, nurtured by a mother who prioritized her education and aspirations. Eager to secure a scholarship and produce a one-woman play addressing poverty in The Gambia, Toufah entered a presidential competition, which was mischaracterized as a beauty pageant. She won, initially receiving fatherly attention from Yahya Jammeh, who soon proposed marriage. When she rejected him, he drugged and raped her, aided by his cousin. Unable to speak out due to the absence of a word for rape in her language and fearing for her family's safety, Toufah found herself under surveillance by Jammeh's regime. Realizing she could not remain, she escaped disguised in a niqab, crossing into Senegal. There, despite Jammeh's attempts to have her returned, she connected with UNHCR and secured a visa for Canada. After Jammeh's ousting, in July 2019, Toufah became the first Gambian woman to publicly accuse him of rape, sparking widespread support and the #IAmToufah movement, leading her to advocate for survivors of sexual violence in The Gambia and beyond.
