The Rape Myth

The
People's Coalition For Justice
&
Humanity

***

The African Rape Myth

By Carol Williams

Nkokehli. Wake up, quickly...it's Maaija!"

"What is wrong with you child? It's not even morning? What happened? What is wrong with her?" the sleepy grandmother rolled from his mat on the floor. She moved to the moonlit shard, splitting the darkness.

"Somebody use her to cleanse themself," Nkokehli's dry voice cracked in the darkness of the one room sheet metal shack in the South African shanty town.

"Noooo..." the mother screamed cradling the four year-old baby in her arms.

Blood rushed from the lower extremity of the child. She lay unconscious, limp, seemingly lifeless, the only sign of life the movement of her chest.

A South African Shanty House

Under normal circumstances in most other places in the world, the first thing that a family would have done would be to call the police, but NkoKehli and her family are too poor to afford telephones in their town. Furthermore, even if they were able to reach the police attacks like the one against Tanasha are not really considered the kind of crimes that attract court action.

The next thought for a family stricken by the same crime would be getting the child to a hospital, butaccess to medical care is al but prohibited to people living on this level of poverty in South Africa.

This family was lucky to get help for Maaija, who's torn body was mended, but she remains silent now, a child that does not cry, or speak. How this horrific act will impact on this girl's ability to grow and live a normal life no one can say. Considering today's medical science, mending her body is relatively easy. The hard part is dealing with the psychology of a child caught up in this tragedy. In this region of South Africa there is only one phychologist to attend to all of these children.

Everyday, 691 children are being raped in South Africa. The World Health Organization in a 2002 Report on Violence and Health stated that clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa reported that one third of the rapes reported are gang rapes perpetrated upon victims who were primarily young girls.

South African girls like the one pictured here stand a
high chance of being raped.

"A growing number of studies, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, indicate that the first sexual experience of young girls is often unwanted and forced. In a case-controlled study, for example, of 191 adolescent girls (about age 16), attending an antenatal clinic in Cape Town, Africa, and 353 non-pregnant adolescents matched for age and neighborhood or school, 31.9 percent of the study cases reported that force was used during their sexual initiation. When asked about the consequences of refusing sex, 78 percent of the study cases said they feared being beaten if they refused to have sex," the report said.

South Africa has earned the infamous title of the rape capital of the world and is listed in the Guinness World Book of Records.

This horrific information is a fact that can no longer be ignored, because there is something that you can do about it.

Your immediate attention can save the suffering of
hundreds of children.

Margot Hyland from Catherine's Inspiration for Kids (CIFKIDS) is entrenched in fighting for these children. Her committment directly derived from a promise to her dying mother, Catherine Nancy Hyland who made Margot promise to continue her 18 year struggle to attend to children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS virus in South Africa.

Families being served at CIFKIDS facility
in South Africa.

Reverend Frank Jardine and wife Lorraine who care for children at
CIFKIDS Outreach located in Johannesburg, South Africa .

Catherine was made painfully aware of plight of the children victimized by the African Rape Myth and her dream was to have her ministry encompass these children.

The Child Rape Myth is a strategy that was developed by traditional tribal natural healers (Muti-men and Sangomas). The belief is that sexual activity with a virgin cures infected men of AIDS. As a result, thousands of girls and infants are being molested, not only in South Africa, but in other tribal parts of the continent where this perverse belief system rules.

Margot Hyland is particularly disturbed by this twisted phenomenon. She speaks the tribal languages and is countryman(woman). She now lives in Philadelphia, Pa. Margot is organizing a relief effort and a protest that will confront the tribal shaman and the government. It will be the first time that someone has openly questioned these tribal beliefs, or brought it to the attention of the South African govenment by exposing it to the world.

CIFKIDS needs your help in bringing this issue to the public. You can do something as benign as simply distributing leaflets alerting people, or you can volunteer your time to the organization helping in many ways from in the office to actually going to South Africa and helping out at the hospice created by CIFKIDS. You can donate financially to this non-profit organization, or give in-kind donations of computers, office supplies and other materials. You can donate clothing, toys, baby supplies and more.

To find out more about how you can help CIFKIDS please log on to their website at http://www.cifkids.org

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