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VOICES FROM THE FIELDTHE IRC BLOG
“It is not your fault”: Helping young rape survivors in Sierra Leone
Photo: Melissa Winkler/IRC
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -
“It is not your fault,” says the International Rescue Committee’s Amie Kandeh (center), consoling a 14-year-old girl named Fulamatu, as her mother listens. “You must believe that.”
It’s an important message in a country where women and girls are regularly blamed for the rapes they suffer and assailants are rarely prosecuted.
Amie runs the International Rescue Committee’s aid and protection programs for women and girls in Sierra Leone. She and her dedicated team help dozens of girls like Fulamatu every month at the IRC’s three Rainbo Centers – facilities that provide medical care, counseling, legal aid and educational support for survivors of sexual violence.
The vast majority of clients at our centers are girls who have been sexually assaulted by men whom they know — neighbors, relatives, even pastors. On a recent visit to the Freetown Rainbo Center with journalist Nick Kristof, 12 girls were seated quietly on wooden benches alongside a parent or guardian, waiting their turn to see an IRC counselor. The youngest was three-years-old and the oldest was 17. All of them had been raped.
Read Kristof's reporting from the center in the New York Times:
- One Girl's Courage (October 12, 2011)
- In This Rape Center, the Patient Was 3 (October 8, 2011)
7 comments
Comments
this is so sad, i am 15 and
Submitted by Kristian Kennah (not verified) on December 8, 2011 - 2:50pm.
this is so sad, i am 15 and knowing that a 3 year old was raped just sounds terrible
I FEEL BAD FOR THESE GIRLS. I
Submitted by ShaeLyssa Engavo (not verified) on December 8, 2011 - 2:49pm.
I FEEL BAD FOR THESE GIRLS. I PRAY FOR THEM AND OTHERS,
wow.. thys is messed up and
Submitted by ShaeLyssa Engavo (not verified) on December 8, 2011 - 2:48pm.
wow.. thys is messed up and somebody should really put a stop to this. i know its not their fault and they probably don't knw what to thnk.
I pray for these girls who
Submitted by Edith Downing (not verified) on November 2, 2011 - 2:38pm.
I pray for these girls who are so unjustly treated
!!
we need a fair justice in
Submitted by DIEU_MERCI MATALA (not verified) on October 15, 2011 - 4:35pm.
we need a fair justice in Sierra leone and in africa. And want to see all the rape's assailant to be prosecuted. All of them behind the bar.
Oh God that is horrible.
Submitted by Ariel Moore (not verified) on October 15, 2011 - 12:02pm.
Oh God that is horrible. Thank you to all the people over there helping these girls. (This kinda stuff makes me wish I could pull all the women and children out of every country and placce them somewhere safe, when no one can hurt them. I wish there was such a place.)
Thank God that they have
Submitted by Will Agee (not verified) on October 14, 2011 - 8:36pm.
Thank God that they have positive support and options now!!
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