Through the Spotlight initiative, Envision is now raising awareness and capacitating members of the community on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment. Additional Peace Committee Members are being trained as trainers in conflict transformation techniques to assist the community in preventing VAW/G and also provide knowledge on seeking assistance for those who are affected. These are some of the stories that were shared with Envision by Peace Committee Members to illustrate the increase in VAW/G in their community and the importance of seeking assistance to tackle VAW/G.
SAFE SEX NEGOTIATION GONE WRONG
Chioniso Mugurameno, 54 years old, has been married to her husband for the past 30 years and was blessed with 4 male children. Three of her children have relocated to the city for work and she lives in Hurungwe Bhashungwe village with her husband and last born son who is 18 years old. She lives in a poor community which survives on small-scale farming. Hurungwe is a patriarchal society, where men are the head of the household and usually use this power to control women.
I was in a happy mood on the 25st of January 2021 as I was celebrating my son’s birthday during the COVID 19 lockdown, little did I know that the day would soon become my worst nightmare. We were busy washing the dishes with my son singing joyfully in the evening, when my husband came back home drunk. He requested that I serve him his food which I did and he ate and we went to bed. It had been about two weeks since my family planning pills had finished, due to the COVID lockdown the village clinic had none in stock and we had opted to use condoms with my husband. As always it was time for his conjugal right, and I just discovered we no longer had any condoms in the house. The man I fell in love with changed that night and became a monster that I could not recognise. He forced us to have sex despite my fears of getting pregnant as I was ovulating. He became violent threw me to the ground and forced himself on me. He did it several times that night and each time I resisted he would beat me up and rape me. I woke up the following day and that was the beginning of an abusive marriage. I could not tell anyone as they would judge me and say I am the one who is wrong. I was in jail as he would spend the day home scolding me and beating me every chance he got because of that night. He refused to use condoms even after I had acquired them and said it
was his will and I had no say in it. The sex was no longer consensual but always forced and this destroyed me physically and emotionally. The lockdown only brought me pain and suffering at the hands of my husband.
MARANGE CHILD MARRIAGE NORM
Rudo Chareka aged 18 was born in Bhashungwe. She lives with her mother and 2 other siblings. Her father died when she was 1 year old. She lives in a community where child marriage is high because of the polygamous beliefs of the Johanne Marange Apostolic religion. Her family and she go to the Church of Christ that challenges child marriages and that is why she herself has not been married off. It pains her to see young girls being married and when she grows up she wants to be an activist who challenges harmful traditions and unjust social norms.
I stay in Bhashungwe area where Johanne Marange Church is dominant. The Church believes in marrying off young girls under the age of 18 to older married men. Some of the wives can scout for young girls on behalf of their husbands. The problem has intensified due to this lockdown where most girls younger than me have been married off to older man of the church. It pains me as young girls are not given the platform to grow, mature and then decide to marry but instead are being forced into marriage due to religion. My heart bleeds as most of these girls are no longer going to school because they have become brides. If they refuse they will be seen as defying the will of God and shunned by the church. Most of the girls are now suffering during child birth and some are even dying. The COVID19 lockdown has really impacted negatively on my life as l lost my 14 year old friend whom l grew up with because of the Marange child marriage norm. My biggest wish is that girls be given an opportunity to grow and not be forced into wives, thus when l grow up l want to end child marriage.
THE UNPLANNED PREGNANCY
Anna is a community care worker who works under the Department of Social Welfare in Hurungwe. She lives with her husband and 2 children. She is well versed with children’s rights, SRHR, child marriages and SGBV issues. Despite all the knowledge and training she has, living in a patriarchal society, where final decisions are made by the male heads of households, she feels trapped as she is unable to do more for the young girls in the community.
In my area l witnessed a case of forced child marriage during this ongoing COVID19 pandemic. This is the story… A certain girl who lived next door to us was sent by her father to sell food to the gold-panners in the area. She fell in love with one of the boys there and became pregnant. The boy not being ready to settle down decided to deny ever being involved with the girl and indicated that the girl was HIV positive. The parents of the girl then had a massive argument as the mother pleaded with the father to let the girl stay and go to school when lockdown restrictions ended, but the father on the other hand was hard as a rock and insisted that the girl goes to her boyfriend. The girl was left without any option but to elope to the boy’s homestead, the boyfriend being afraid of his family ran away. Now the girl is slaving in the boy’s homestead as a (muroora) daughter-in-law hoping the boy will come back. Her father demanded to be paid damages. The girl is not welcome at the boys homestead, but has nowhere to go. Her health is at stake as she is HIV positive, she is not having a proper diet and is pregnant. The girl’s mother in this patriarchal society has no say in the matter. The father was adamant that even if we involved the police and social welfare nothing will change because his word is final and he will divorce his wife as she failed her duty as a mother, as she did not teach her daughter not to sleep around.
BRIDE FOR GOODS
Tariro is a widow who lives in Hurungwe village. She lost her husband years ago due to a tragic accident at a mine he worked at. She has no children as she lost her pregnancy the same
time her husband died. She lives in a poor community, who survive on small scale farming. Most families in her community depend on donors for survival. She herself is one of the grain distribution beneficiaries. She does not have relatives close by and her husband’s family shunned her after the death of her husband and blamed her for witchcraft. She survives on growing vegetables and selling them at the local market.
During the lockdown economically people were struggling as all informal sectors were closed. A certain family found an escape plan by forcing their thirteen year old daughter to be in a relationship with a community business man who owned stores. The agreement was that each month they were to get money and groceries from the man and he would be in a relationship with their daughter. This went on for the whole month. One day some older ladies from the community saw the man touching the girl in his car and they went to report to the chief. When the girl’s parents realised that the case was at the chief’s court they hid their child for some days and pretended that she was taken by a relative. It was later on discovered that the child was married off to the business man and had relocated. The parents of the child denied the allegations and up until now are receiving money and groceries from the business man.
IN THE FIELDS
BCF aged 52 is tobacco farmer in Hurungwe. He is married to one wife and has 3 female children. Because he has female children, issues to do with abuse of women and girls affect him greatly. He believes that women are jewels which should be cherished by all man. He is proud to be a father to 3 beautiful girls and thus is one of the few man in Hurungwe who are challenging the abuse of women and girls.
I am being troubled by a story that happened in my area. There is a certain old couple taking care of their grandchildren. The grandfather is 65 and he sexually abused his 5 year old granddaughter in the fields. The granddaughter ran for help where she met her grandmother who saw that she was bleeding from her private parts and she narrated how the grandfather had sexually abused her in the fields. The grandfather was apprehended by the community members and he denied all the allegation and said he had seen the girl having sex with her little brother. The case was the dealt with as a family issue and they just decided to let it go. Now the challenge is that the girl never went for medical examination and treatment and might be sick hence the need for intervention. My plea is that the girl gets help as the abuse might continue happening and she might be in serious danger. This happened during the lockdown in ward 13 and as much as we try reporting the case the family denies all the allegations. I am affected by this case because I am a father of girls and even when I die I do not want my children to be abused. I really hope that this family will cooperate and the grandfather be apprehended and it will be a lesson to us men, that the abuse of women and girls leads you straight to jail.
YOUTH RAPES 86 YEAR OLD
Bibi Kasawi aged 54 lives in the Hurungwe community and he is a committee member in the community’s partnership with Envision “Building Bridges” focusing on ending violence in the community. He and his wife care for his 86 year old aunt. Because of her age the aunt is always at home when Bibi and his wife go to work for other people in the fields (maricho). Their child is living and working in Bulawayo. The aunt is on the government seed program and she receives seed and fertiliser. This is where the family finds their food as they grow the maize seed for mealie-meal.
During the Lockdown my 86 year old aunt was sexually abused by a 24 year old man who was a family friend. The man also stole her fertiliser on top of the sexual abuse. He took advantage that my wife and I had gone to work in the fields and he came to our homestead and forcefully had sexual intercourse with my aunt. Upon arrival at home my wife was the one who noticed
that a bag of fertiliser was missing and when asked my aunt broke down crying and explained what had occurred. The man was arrested and the case is still in the courts. My aunt received medical care and counselling, but to date she is very traumatised. I strongly believe that due to the effects of the lockdown boys and men are becoming idle and end up committing crimes like these. He took advantage of my aunt’s age and thought it will not be discovered as she was old and had difficulties with her memory.
DISSATISFIED HUSBAND
Memory Ziome aged 35 has been married for 15 years and has 3 children with her husband. They live in Hurungwe and are one of the poor families. The husband works at a local bottle store as a security guard and Memory is a full time house wife. The children are all in school and are not doing so well. She loves her family and prays that one day things will be better. She goes to the Anglican Church and is interested in women’s empowerment.
I am married and we have three children. My home used to be relatively peaceful considering that we are not rich, but we could manage to work and sustain ourselves. Things changed suddenly during the COVID19 lockdown. Before, my husband would spend the day at work and come back in the evening tired. Due to the lockdown it meant that he was always home all 24 hours of the day, he would demand sex every hour. It really became tiring for me and he would force himself on me. He decided to have girlfriends and justify that by saying I was not satisfying him. I was emotionally traumatized as he would not even hide it and he would belittle me and say I was not woman enough and he didn’t enjoy having sex with me. What really hurt me the most is we have a family together and we have come a long way. Because of the lockdown I saw another side of my husband that l never knew existed and it broke me. I am still going through emotional pain but I believe with God’s help it will all be well. I love my husband and children and I will fight for my marriage through prayer.
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