WUNRN
Kenya – Ripples Centre Helps Girls Who Have Been Sexually
Abused, Rebuild Lives
Thirteen-year-old Maria at Tumaini Rescue Centre. she was
defiled twice by her father. the second time as her stepmother watched. PHOTO |
DAPHINE BILLIMA
In Summary
·
Apart from giving the
girls a roof over their heads, Tumaini Rescue Home seeks justice on their
behalf, teaches them how how to remain consistent when testifying in court,
enables them to continue with their education and offers them medical services.
·
This year, the centre
has rescued 11 girls, nine of whom were defiled. Five of the nine were defiled
by their biological fathers. After to fathers, Ms Wambugu says, grandfathers
are the next worst perpetrators.
·
The officer,
attributes most of the cases to a “bad” culture, where women leave the children
with their father when a marriage collapses, putting girls at risk of
defilement. She adds that excessive consumption of alcohols is also partly to
blame.
By DAPHINE
BILLIMA – June 8, 2015
What makes a father defile his daughter?
That is the question medics at the Meru Teaching and
Referral Hospital are grappling with as they continue receiving cases of rape
or defilement daily. Sadly, most are perpetrated are family members.
While the lives of the girls who undergo the traumatic
experience are shattered, one institution, Ripple International Rescue Centre,
strives to help them overcome the trauma and rebuild their lives.
During a visit to the institution, DN2 spoke with the
administrator, Mrs Leah Wambugu, and the statistics are worrying.
“Out of the 307 girls we have rescued since the centre
opened in 2006, 232 are defilement cases.
Ninety of those involve incest, which has been rising
steadily in the past two years. Fifty-five cases out of the 90 were perpetrated
by biological fathers, 11 by step-fathers and the rest by other
relatives.” she adds. After to fathers, Ms Wambugu says, grandfathers are
the next worst perpetrators.
“Most mothers leave their children with their own
mothers, the children’s grandmothers. This puts them at a risk from the preying
grandfathers, since the elderly women do not imagine that their husbands can
abuse little children. In fact, our latest admissions are two sisters who were
defiled by their grandfather,” she explains.
This year, the centre has rescued 11 girls, nine of whom
were defiled. Five of the nine were defiled by their biological fathers.
“We have financial constraints so we cannot rescue all
abused girls, but we try. Incest cases are widespread, but many girls are
afraid to report them,” notes the institute’s director, Mrs Mercy Chidi Baidoo.
“But we cannot just bury our heads in the sand and assume nothing is happening.
Even if what we do is like a drop in the ocean, we will keep doing it.”
OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT
The centre offers the girls shelter, advocacy, a witness
support programme and education.
“Although this is a temporary shelter, we teach them so
they do not lag behind in classwork. It is through education that they can
change their lives,” says Ms Wambugu.The girls also undero trauma
counselling. And under the witness support programme, they are taught how the
court operates and how to maintain consistency when testifying.
“Some cases are heard even two years after the incident.
We have to keep rehearsing so they do not leave out important details in the
evidence. Most of them also fear the police so when they see them in court,
they become too scared to talk,” she says.
An officer at the Meru Town Police Station corroborates
the statement by the medics and Ms Wambugu. “We receive about three defilement
cases every month. If this is what happens at all the other stations, then it
is a real cause for worry,” says the officer, who asks not want to be named.
“These girls are defiled by people they know, like their relatives,” she
adds.She says the courts take time to handle such cases, which delays justice
for the girls.
“In 2013, we forwarded 23 defilement cases to court. Up
to now, only two have been concluded. Some perpetrators are still at
large while some witnesses have since left Meru,” she laments. “Sometimes the
cases are withdrawn in favour of out-of-court settlement since they are family
matters. The child’s mother is forced or threatened to sign the letter seeking
the withdrawal,” she says.
However, Mrs Wambugu says, “We don’t allow a girl
in our custody to withdraw a case. Together with our lawyers, we ensure that
she gets justice, no matter how long it takes. But the delays in handling
these cases breaks the girls’ hearts.”
The officer, attributes most of the cases to a “bad”
culture, where women leave the children with their father when a marriage
collapses, putting girls at risk of defilement. She adds that excessive
consumption of alcohols is also partly to blame.
But she says the situation can be solved by educating the
public on in churches, barasas and women’s groups.”
Meanwhile, Ms Wambugu thinks there is an underlying
problem in society that needs to be addressed.
“Jailing perpetrators might not be the solution, because
when they come out, they are still a threat to society,” she notes. “We
cannot even promise these girls that after they testify, the perpetrators will
be arrested; that is a decision that remains with the court.”
Three girls shared their stories.
ANNE, 14, defiled by father
Anne* looks very frail. The social worker has to carry a
seat for her to the lawn where we are having the interview. She feigns a smile
when I say “Hi” but the pain in her eyes is visible. The Standard Six
pupil delivered three days before our meeting.
“I’m happy because I delivered safely and my son is quite
healthy,” she says, before she begins recounting her ordeal.
“My mum has a mental problem so she sometimes leaves home
to roam around. On the fateful say, I was at home with my two younger
sisters. I prepared a meal for them and left some for our father.” she
explains. “He returned at around midnight and came to my room,” she says, then
pauses and looks at me as if I should fill in the blanks. After a brief
silence, she finds her voice. “I sleep in a separate room from my younger
sisters’. He came and grabbed me. He threatened to kill me if I shouted. I had
no option. Early the next morning, I went to the area chief and told him what
happened,” she recalls.
The chief facilitated her father’s arrest. And after
recording a statement at the police station, Ripples came to her rescue, and
that is how she found herself at Tumaini Rescue Centre. That was in December
2014.
Anne, who conceived, was told she would have to deliver
first, so that DNA samples from the baby could be used as evidence. “I
want to go back to school and complete my studies so I can help my son and
teach him to be a responsible man, far from my father, and his father. I want
to be a lawyer and fight for the rights of girls who have experienced what I
went through. No girl deserves this,” she says firmly.
However, she misses her sick mother and siblings, and
would like to join them.
MARIA, 13, defiled by father
Maria* is a shy, Standard Six pupil. Her mother dies so
she was living with her father and stepmother. When I explain the purpose of my
visit, she nods, but when I give her the chance to talk, she’s dumbstruck. I
smile at her to assure her. She mumbles something I cannot hear so I move
closer. “I cannot remember the exact day,” she begins. Then, after a long
pause she tells me to give her time.
Meanwhile, the centre’s administrator, Ms Leah Wambugu,
tells me that Maria has broken down three times in court, necessitating
rescheduling of the case. Finally, Maria finds her tongue and continues:
“My father defiled me when my stepmother was away.” That was the first time,
and Maria told her stepmother about it.
“She did not believe me; she thought I was lying,” she
says bitterly.Then it happened a second time: “I had gone to the toilet and on
my way back, I heard my dad call me. He told me to sit on their bed. My
stepmother was there. She said that since I had accused my father, she wanted
to see him do it again for her to believe. I refused. He forced me to lie on
the bed, removed my clothes, and defiled me,” narrates Maria. Her father was
arrested, but her stepmother has gone missing.
Maria wants to be a surgeon.
ESTHER*, 15, defiled by stepfather
Esther has an eight-month-old baby. She is very
confident and eloquent.
“It was on January 2, 2014. My stepfather sent my mum and
brother to market. When they had left, he called me to the house and told me he
had a gift for me near my bed. I ran to my room and was too excited to notice
him close the door and come for me.
“He pushed me onto my bed, removed my clothes, turned me
on my back and did the act.”
Esther is not afraid to tell everything as it
happened. She has attended a number of court sessions and knows that speaking
clearly is what will get her justice. Her stepfather threatened to kill
her if she screamed.
“After that, he took a panga and sat outside the door. I
could not run for help. I felt very filthy and took a shower, something I later
learnt had destroyed the evidence,” she says. She told her mother the moment
she got back.
“Mum was very hurt too. She asked me if I wanted
him to be arrested or if we should move out. I told her moving out was the best
option. If he was jailed, he would come out after serving his term and that
would put our lives in danger.”
That very day they moved out and went to live with her
maternal grandmother. But before that, they reported that matter to the police
and went to the hospital. But at the hospital she was told she had tampered
with the evidence by taking a bath.
And since she was pregnant, she was told to wait
until the child was born.
“I did not want the matter to go to court because I felt
my life would be in danger if I testified,” she says. Then she is overwhelmed
by emotion and bursts into tears.
She was in Standard Eight at the time. She continued
going to school until August, when she was too tired to attend classes. She
delivered in September and sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education
exams.
“I scored only 264 out of 500. I was disappointed as I
had expected to do better,” she says with bitterness. She would like to be a
lawyer.
* Not the victims’ real names.
Mrs Mercy Chidi Baidoo at her office at The Ripples
Rescue Centre. PHOTO | DAPHINE BILLIMA
How one girl’s story led to the creation of the centre
MRS MERCY CHIDI BAIDOO is jovial when I meet her at a
hotel in Meru at 7 am. “My day starts very early, sometimes as early at 5am”
begins the founder and director of Ripples International in Kithoka,
Meru. The institution offers shelter to girls who have been sexually abused, or
at risk of being abused, among others. She has already been to her office,
which is about 6km from the hotel.
A former NGO employee in Nairobi, she moved to Meru to
create awareness about HIV/Aids before establishing a home for abandoned
children in 2004.
Two years later, she set up the Tumaini Rescue centre
after an odd encounter with a 13-year-old girl. The girl had sought shelter at
the children’s home because her family wanted her forcibly circumcised, but Mrs
Baidoo turned her away for lack of space.
While attending a conference in Nairobi sometime later,
Mrs Baidoo came across the girl. The girl, who had run away from
home and was now pregnant, walked up to Mrs Baidoo and introduced herself.
Filled with remorse, Mrs Baidoo decided to cater for girls in difficult
situations.
SAFE COMMUNITY
“The centre rescues girls between the ages of three and
17. Apart from victims of sexual violence, we rescue those forced to undergo
FGM, forced marriage, physical abuse and child labour. We meant to keep the
girls for just about six weeks as we counsel them and treat them. However, some
stay on much longer since we cannot risk taking them back home,” says Mrs
Baidoo.
“I have a three-year old girl who was defiled by her
father. Most of the sexual violence cases we deal with involve family members,”
she says.
Her greatest success was in May 2013, when they won a
case against the police.
The case involved 160 girls who had sued the police for
negligence in addressing their defilement cases. The police were ordered by the
court to conduct prompt, effective, proper and professional investigations into
each of the claimants’ cases and to take measures to improve its response in
all cases of defilement.
Due to stigma and discrimination, the centre found it
hard to place the children in learning institutions. So it built Ripple School,
which has pre-school and classes 1-3. The older girls are given individual
tuition.
Ripples also set up a medical centre but refers cases
that need specialised treatment to the Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
So what happens to girls who are afraid to go home?
“We look for alternative settlement, for instance with
willing aunts or grandmothers. We empower these caregivers economically by
giving them seed money for business, seeds and animals for farmers and the
like, so that they can care for the children,” she offers.
Her greatest wish: “I hope to shut Tumaini Rescue Centre
one day and return the girls to a safe community. It is sad that we are hiding
these girls here because their homes are unsafe for them.”
I hope to shut Tumaini Rescue Centre one day and return
the girls to a safe community. It is sad that we are hiding these girls here
because their homes are unsafe for them.”