Young Burundian girl, 16 years old
When it happened to me, they grabbed me. They laid me down on the floor. They
forced themselves upon me. Until I lost consciousness. As soon as I came to,
I wanted to leave. They told me: If you say anything, we’ll look for you and
we’ll kill you. I never told anyone what happened. And I became pregnant.
Young Colombian Girl, 15 years old
The man lived next door to us. We used the same bathroom. I was washing
and he saw me and came into the house. My little sister had broken the TV,
and he said: Come in and have a look at the TV. I came in with a chair but as
I sat down, he came close to me, grabbed my arms and tried to make me sit on
the bed. Later, I had a medical appointment and found out I was pregnant. My
sister asked : Whose baby is it? and I said I didn’t know. Then she asked
about the man who lived next door and I threw up right then and there. My mom
started to cry and I started to cry too. Then I told them everything that
happened- that he threw me on the bed and took me by force.
Young Liberian girl, 14 years old
So I opened the door and saw my stepfather. He came in. I was wearing my
nightgown. I went to bed, put the candle off and put the mosquito net over
me. That night my blouse, my nightgown were taken off. So I asked: Who is on
me? and he said It’s me. I asked: What are you doing here? and he said: Don’t
talk. If you talk I’ll kill you. He showed me a white bottle with red water
inside it. He said: If you talk I will kill you. I did not say anything and
he did it six times. When I went to the clinic, they asked me: Who taught you
about life? I said: My stepfather. My mother said that I lied and jumped on
me and beat me.
Jill HUBERTY, MSF Psychologist in Liberia
In Liberia the sexual violence program is actually integrated in a children’s
hospital and as well in two clinics. And in these three facilities we provide
psychosocial support to the survivors of sexual violence as well as medical
care. If an adult woman is raped, often the blame is put on her, and not on
the perpetrator. And if she speaks out, she risks being expelled from her
community or from her family.
Meinie Nicolai, MSF Operational Director
It’s very important that people know that they have to come to our centres
after the violent act happened, very soon after the incident, because the
earlier people come the better we can treat them medically. So, we can treat
them to prevent unwanted pregnancies, we can prevent sexually transmitted
infections, we can prevent HIV infection. And we also do a lot of
psychological support. And again, here it’s important that people speak to us
- we’ll be listening to them, we’re not judgmental, and so in that way, we
can help the victims to survive the terrible incident that has happened to
them.
Thilde KNUDSEN, MSF Sexual and Reproductive Health Advisor
One of the really important things when you provide a response to victims of
sexual violence is that your service offers strict confidentiality, privacy.
That it’s calm, that it’s easy accessible for the victims. Due to the stigma
related to being a sexual violence victim. It can be really hard for them to
come forward, because they don’t want anyone to know that they are coming to
you for it It can be a problem to make the population know that there is a
service and, at the same time, keeping it discreet. But if you provide a good
confidential, private atmosphere, and you have victims coming through
successfully, you’ll often see that the word spreads and over time your
services will be used more and more.
Jill HUBERTY, MSF Psychologist in Liberia
To ensure the community knows about the services, we have a quite big health
promotion program, which is mainly a drama team, which goes to the different
communities, and does a drama on sexual violence, which attracts quite a lot
of people, and which is a very, very nice way because then you’ll have a lot
of people around, and after the theatre play, you can have an open discussion
with them, and give them the information where they can go to seek treatment.
We distribute flyers, so that they can take it home, so that if it’s
happening , at a certain point, they have the address and they can go and
search out the services.
Meinie Nicolai MSF Operational Director
We shouldn’t forget that it’s a criminal act, so there is also legal aspects.
Of course, we’re a medical organisation, but also what we can do is make a
medical legal certificate, that can help the victim to go to justice and to
try to find the justice that they need. These terrible acts of violence
continue to happen everyday, especially by people who are supposed to be
protecting these children and women -and boys sometimes-. They are the main
perpetrators of this kind of violence. And by bringing this out to the
public, we hope that people realize that it is not normal and that this kind
of violence should end.
Sexual violence shatters lives. But emergency medical care within 72 hours
makes a vital difference.