16/09/2023
FOR GIRLS ESCAPING SEXUAL ABUSE, TOO FEW SAFE SPACES
MPIGI, UGANDA — Susan, 15, plays with her friends at our center where she has lived since April. Before this, Susan worked as a maid for a head teacher in her village. She hoped the savings would pay for her secondary education. But eight months into the job, the abuse started.
“One day, as I was working, my boss attacked and r***d me,” she says. Susan begged him to stop, but he ignored her pleas and warned her never to tell anyone. The abuse persisted for two months, and when the emotional burden became too much to bear, Susan talked to her boss’s wife about it. The wife did not believe her. Susan, who like other sources in this story is not being identified by her full name to protect her identity, reported the case to the police and since then has been living at the center, which specializes in the rehabilitation of women and children who have suffered different forms of abuse.
Findings in a 2021 policy brief by Save the Children show that only 1 in 4 girls (and 1 in 10 boys) will report sexual violence. According to the 2020 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, 9.9% of girls ages 15 to 19 have experienced sexual violence. Most of the time, they don’t get justice, and their abusers, who are most often people they know like brothers, uncles, parents or close friends, get away with it.
FOLII continues to be committed in enhancing safety and justice to such victims. Please keep us in prayers and support in our work