Many women suffer from sexual violence
Decades of economic decline, eleven years of brutal civil war, corruption, natural catastrophies, and, to top it off, the ebola epidemic and covid pandemic have had dramatic consequences for society and the economy of the West-African state, Sierra Leone. Sexual violence increased dramatically. President Julius Maada Bio declared a state of national emergency in Sierra Leone in 2019. The reason was that a number of gruesome abuse and rape cases of children were publicized.
Almost half of the female population in Sierra Leone still experience sexual or physical violence during their lifetimes. Most cases remain unnoticed, and the victims suffer in silence. Many girls and women are afraid to press charges due to fear, shame, and/or financial dependence on the perpetrator. Even when cases of sexual violence are reported, it is a challenge for victims to receive justice.
A temporary refuge
Girls are often expelled from society and excluded from their communities when the crime becomes known, especially when they become pregnant as a result of rape. This is the time when the girls most urgently need psychological support and a place where they can temporarily find a new home an attain new stability. The Makeni Girls’ Shelter is just such a place and is run by our partner organization, Commit & Act Foundation, and supported by the German Doctors. Every year 250 girls and young women can be admitted to this shelter in Makeni.
In the Girls’ Shelter the girls receive medical and psychological care and legal advice by the social workers and carers. They can confide in one another and strengthen each other. All cases are taken to court, and the perpetrators are almost always found guilty, which contributes to a lasting effect.
We consider it important for the girls and young women not to drop out of school, but to continue their schooling. Our goal is for the girls to be reintegrated into the family after completing the program and also to be able to go to school again. This requires educating the families and the communities and special training.
Schooling, training, and income-generating activities
Whenever necessary, we support parents’ and caregivers’ income-generating activities, as poverty and better education possibilities are often the reasons why girls are sent to other family members or acquaintances in the next city. In just such cases the children are often abused or exploited as maids.
As in all our projects, our goal here it to provide sustainable help which accompanies an attitude change in the community. Our measures therefore include schooling and training for girls to prevent abuse. We utilize radio programs in the communities to combat the problems connected to sexual and gender-specific violence in the long run.
Support non-violent child-raising
Showing families good child-raising methods to enable them to raise their children without violence costs only 41 francs. This enables the children to grow up healthily and with self-determination.
Overview of the project
- Find victims of sexual and gender-specific violence in surrounding districts of where? in Sierra Leone.
- Search for a suitable and safe accommodation for survivors of sexual abuse and perform follow-up visits.
- Legally pursue the cases.
- Provide financial support to the girls’ parents and caretakers.
- Support the girls’ education.
- Make the communities aware of the problem, e.g., with radio programs.
- Cooperate with our partner, the Commit & Act Foundation Sierra Leone.
- The emphasis of the independent NGO is placed on the comprehensive care of survivors of sexual violence in Sierra Leone, especially girls. The organization advises and supports girls and their parents who have decided against female genital mutilation since 2014. Commit & Act also runs two shelters for girls, the Bo and the Makeni girls’ Shelter.
- Actively combat female genital mutilation.
- Together with our partner organization Commit & Act-Sierra Leone combat the injurious practice of female genital mutilation.