Tatenda and her tin of evidence

05 Jul, 2019 - 00:07 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Wadzanai Munyama Post Correspondent

Tatenda aged 15; lived with her parents in the rural area of Chimanimani in Manicaland Province. She completed her primary education in 2016. Unfortunately for Tatenda, her parents lacked the finances to put her through to secondary school. As a result, she stayed at home doing mostly household chores and working in the fields to assist her parents.

A few months later, Tatenda’s aunt approached Tatenda’s mother and asked for her daughter to move in with her in a two roomed house in Mutasa District. Tatenda’s parents happily obliged to the request. At the time, the aunt was heavily pregnant and in her third trimester. She had previously experienced complications and therefore sought assistance around the house as she had two other young children.

Shortly after Tatenda’s arrival, her aunt had to go to the mothers’ waiting shelter which was a distance from her house. In the absence of her aunt, Tatenda managed the household, took care of the two children and her uncle. Her uncle requested for his food to be served in his bedroom, under the guise that he was too tired from working during the day. Suspecting nothing sinister, Tatenda attended to her uncle’s request.

One night, after serving the evening the meal, putting the children to bed and completing the household chores for the day, Tatenda went to sleep on the mat. She had hardly fallen asleep when her uncle (29 years old) descended on her and closed her mouth with the palm of his hands, and overpowered her before stripping her clothes and raping her. Tatenda screamed for help but no one heard her desperate and muffled screams.

The rape ordeal proceeded throughout the night and when it was finally dawning the next morning, Tatenda felt so ill and was in so much pain she could hardly walk or do any morning chores around the house. Tatenda was new to the area where her aunt lived and she did not know anyone to turn to. She approached her uncle`s neighbours who turned out to be relatives of the uncle. The relatives connived and forced Tatenda into marriage with her uncle since he had deflowered her.

After she had been raped and forced into marriage, Tatenda was depressed. She went through the motions of her household chores, wondering if she would ever get off this black cloud that hung over her head that morning. As Tatenda was walking to the nearby well to fetch water, she encountered a woman, Mrs Gwara, who asked with concern and kindness why she seemed to have difficulty walking. Quite relieved that someone had took interest in her well-being, Tatenda tearfully narrated how she was raped by her uncle.

It so happened that Mrs Gwara was one of the eight influential women who had been selected by her community leaders and members to advocate against child marriages in Mutasa District, under the 18+: Ending Child Marriages in Zimbabwe Project (hereafter referred to as 18+). At its core, the project seeks to empower young women to be able to make their own decisions with regards to who to marry, when to marry and if to marry at all.

Influential women are identified from Religious leaders, Village Heads, Teachers and generally respected women in the community. Besides the influential women, Simukai incorporates in its programmes important stakeholders such as Child Care Workers, Child Protection Committees, Paralegals, Safe Space Mentors and Gender Champions. The Influential Women were trained on basic counselling skills, case management, referral pathway, establishment of safe spaces and awareness-raising in order to empower them to conduct activities to prevent, respond and report cases of child marriage.

After the trainings, the influential women identified girls at risk of child marriages and child marriage survivors. They also established safe spaces. A safe space is a formal or informal place where women and girls feel physically and emotionally safe. The term ‘safe,’ in the present context, refers to the absence of trauma, excessive stress, violence (or fear of violence), or abuse. It is a space where women and girls, being the intended beneficiaries, feel comfortable and enjoy the freedom to express themselves without the fear of judgment or harm.

Mrs Gwara as a safe space mentor, took Tatenda to a local clinic for medical assistance. The local clinic further referred her to the Provincial Hospital for further medical examinations. Mrs Gwara also reported the case to the Police who did their investigations of her case. Tatenda had the confidence to narrate her horrendous ordeal with the support that she received from Simukai and the Influential women through psycho-social support and counselling. She also presented her tin of evidence which contained used condoms by her uncle.

Tatenda was sheltered at Simukai Child Protection Programme’s Place of Safety (a temporary shelter for survivor children of all forms of abuse) through the Department of Social Welfare while investigations were being done by the Police.  Psycho-social support and legal advice was offered to Tatenda in preparation for her to stand in the courts for justice. Simukai Child Protection Programme has been offering temporary shelter to survivors of abuse since the year 2000 targeting girls and young women including boys.

Tatenda’s uncle was arrested when he presented himself at a local Police Station to report that his niece was missing from home. Tatenda was reunited with her mother who expressed gratitude for the support from the 18+ Project. Today, Tatenda is now attending school. She underwent several counselling sessions. Following the successful prosecution of Tatenda`s uncle, girls reportedly come out in the open to report cases of sexual and other forms of abuse that they experienced. For instance in 2016, 16 cases of child marriages were reported and attended to by Simukai Child Protection Programme, in 2017, 101 cases were attended to and by December 2018, 110 cases were reported.

In Zimbabwe, the 18+: Ending child marriages project is being implemented in a joint initiative by Simukai Child Protection Program, Plan International Zimbabwe and Justice for Children and Government line ministries in Mutare and Mutasa District.

The project’s initiative is to empower girls and boys who are in and out of school to make informed decisions about their life. It also aims to strengthen and establish of community structures so that they can prevent and respond to child marriage cases. The project also works with Traditional leaders since they are the custodians of culture and also influence duty bearers to put measures in place to end child marriages including alignment of marriage laws with the constitution.

Child marriage and sexual abuse are the worst forms of abuse!

Girls should not be silenced. Let them speak!

Let’s protect girls from abuse and report all cases of abuse!

Pazvaitika ngazvitaurwe!

Mwana anokosha!

 

 The writer, Wadzanai Munyama is a project officer with Simukai Child Protection Programme

 

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