Dramatic events destined Kate Kendel to live with various missionary foster parents in Sierra Leone and Scandinavia. At the age of 16, she returned to her biological family in Sierra Leone and was genitally mutilated against her will. We follow Kate back to her roots, where the circumciser's' secret society, Bundu, is so feared that no government has yet been able to rock its power. "The Secret Pain" is a strong portrait of the psychological consequences women face after this kind of physical mutilation.