Sukuma women and children of Tanzania, Author paulshaffner, Source Flickr (CC BY 2.0 Generic)
WARNING: Graphic Images
The following is excerpted from an article by Lynn Monahan titled “Fighting Gender-Based Violence” in the June 2020 edition of Maryknoll Magazine:
“When she was only 8 years old, Ghati was sold by her older brother to a 55-year-old man, who put the orphan girl on a motorcycle and rode to his house… There the man raped her.
After two weeks of daily assaults, Ghati escaped while the man was working in his fields…The man was later arrested and eventually sentenced to prison.
Ghati, a pseudonym to protect her identity, was…placed in a shelter [in Tanzania] under the care of the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa.
‘What the center does is support vulnerable children,’ says Sister Annunciata Chacha, the director of the shelter called Jipe Moyo, a Swahili term meaning To Give Heart.
Jipe Moyo, a program of the Musoma Diocese, cares for children who have been living on the street, children who run away from domestic violence, children who flee from female genital mutilation (FGM)…sometimes called female circumcision, and girls escaping from child marriages…At the center, the children receive care, counseling and education…”
“Jipe Moyo shelters 70 minors, most of whom are girls, some as young as 2 years old, who’ve been orphaned or abandoned. One 5-year-old girl was found sleeping on a garbage dump after being kicked out of her house by her stepmother. More than a dozen boys at the center were rescued from the streets. Jipe Moyo also support more than 50 children at area boarding schools. A few have gone on to college…”
Tragically, gender-based violence (directed primarily against women) occurs across the globe.
- The World Health Organization estimates that 3 million girls annually face genital mutilation in 30 different countries [1].
- In the US, underage marriage remains an issue. In 2017, PBS Frontline reported, on the basis of state marriage records from 2000-2015, that children as young as 12 or 13 had been allowed to marry in the US [2].
These children still await rescue, and someone to give them heart.
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[1] World Health Organization, “Prevalence of female genital mutilation”, .https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research/key-areas-of-work/female-genital-mutilation/prevalence-of-female-genital-mutilation
[2] PBS, Frontline, “Child Marriage in America”, 9/14/17, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/podcast/dispatch/child-marriage-in-america/.
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ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse 
It is so sad and yes, very true. Peace unto all and wisdom unto all 🙏
Money is the root of this evil. Selling his sister to an old man unthinkable. Girl’s and women’s lives seem to have no value just fit for purpose which seems to be the level of these animals
understanding. A world of great sadness. What has to change and how will it change?
Women here control the FGM it gives them power, call it purification. Purifying what is my question? It feeds a mental illness which is passed down the generations. They look down on us calling us haram.
Blessings Anna you find many topics to raise awareness in this our ugly world. Praying for these poor souls.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Nanette. I was not aware that women control FGM in Egypt.
Oh yes. It is illegal yet the police will not stop them.
We just seem to be living in an un Godly time. Maybe it’s just me…
You are far from wrong, Brian. As Scripture foretold: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3: 1-5 NIV).
To what level of sin must man sink to before he finally recognizes his need for a Savior? The answer, I’m afraid, is that the overwhelming majority will never reach this conclusion, thus continue instead to sink even further into depravity.
What we are living with are the results of man’s efforts to replace God with his own version. The results are rather horrendous I think.
You are so right, Ron.
Anna, I thank you for putting out the post on this kind of subject. God knows we need to be made away of all kinds of abuse going on. My heart is soft toward those who are abused since I grew up in an abusive home. But thank God, I have over come even thought at times I must battle my thinking toward men. God always sees me through those times though. I know till I get home to heaven it will be a struggle for me at times. Thanks you.
Yes, the scars of abuse can be very tenacious. But God is faithful.
A very good article informing on gender violence that perhaps many of us in the Western World mostly ignore. It is important that these issues, these crimes, horrific crimes against women, especially children, be exposed, be informed and be stopped. Maryknoll magazine is a very good magazine. I wrote an article for Maryknoll back in the nineties reference the communities created at Corpus Christi Parrish in Miami, serving one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the city. I truly applaud your work, Anna, bringing forth these situations that people need to know about.
All the best,
F
Thank you for your input, Francisco. You are always so kind. Blessings, A.
Thank you Anna and blessings to you too.
Thank you for sharing what is being done and exposing the enemy. Prayers for the victims of these crimes and for those who help them.
Amen.
Awareness is the first step. It’s important to share these stories, so that actions can develop to prevent it. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for reading.
It was my pleasure Anna.
Gender-based violence can include sexual, physical, mental and economic harm inflicted in public or in private. It also includes threats of violence, coercion and manipulation. This can take many forms such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called ‘honour crimes’. IAC Cash and Voucher Assistance and GBV Compendium: A Practical Guidance for Humanitarian Practitioners
exactly the most common form of GBV in Cameroon now is rape
Tragic.
Great insight, we need to advocate more, so that other young girls in such situations will not back down and remain in shadows but pick up strength and act like girl did, it’s not easy but thank God there are such homes whi h take in these girls, we hope for something like this in Cameroon so I take out time to write some stories too, an this is just to create Awareness in my country that such things do happen you can check my posts out on http://www.aleaellacom.wordpress.com
Thank you for addressing this important topic on your own blog.