SEXUAL ABUSE Part 1

This is the first of a 4 part series on sexual abuse. It is by far the most difficult subject I have written about so far because of the nature of the topic. It is also the one I did the most research on. I went around for about 3 months with a stomach ache.

Part of the writing struggle was that this is a family program, but the topic is not considered appropriate for children, even though they are often the victims. Another difficult part was to have it seem real and not pretend. I hope I succeeded in both of these areas. I know I got the second one right. It is NOT pretend. It is the drama for which (sadly) the reaction over and over again has been, "This is not fiction. This is reality."

The huge hurdle in African society is the mental block about talking about it--with your children or anyone. It is taboo. When rape happens, it is shoved under the carpet and the victim has no chance of healing. The police are generally useless. The attitude seems to be, "If we ignore it, it didn't happen."

In many areas of African culture the premise needs to be established that talking about something does NOT endorse it. It empowers the fight against it.

The mention in the drama of a two year old girl being raped by someone because they thought it would cure his AIDS is a reality. It happens a lot. Once, in Zambia, when we were returning from a baptismal service by the river we were walking through a village. We heard some screaming in a house. There were people going to check it out, so we were encouraged to stay out of the situation. Later the pastor reported that a mother had left her two year old in the care of her brother while she went on an errand. When she returned she found her brother had raped her baby.