A woman is raped every ten minutes in South Africa. Almost one in two young women under the age of 18 has already been raped. Our partner organization LifeLine supports the victims and does a great deal of prevention work in South Africa. Sinikiwe Biyela, Director of LifeLine Pietersmaritzburg, will be visiting us on April 7 to report on LifeLine’s work.
A study on the subject of sexual violence in South Africa, in which around 1800 men from all sections of the population took part, shows that more than a quarter have raped a girl or woman at least once and that the majority of rapists are HIV-positive.
Shame, feelings of guilt and depression and even suicide attempts are the result. For fear of social ostracism and the accusation that they themselves are to blame for the rape, hardly any women dare to report the perpetrator.
LifeLine: successful and visiting Switzerland
Our partner organization LifeLine is fighting against these conditions. And it is working successfully: 11 contact points have already been set up to date. In 2013, 1036 girls and women were cared for at the LifeLine contact point in the city of Escourt alone. The volunteers in the educational work reach around 5000 people in the communities every year. LifeLine also trains 20 unemployed young people each year to become community workers. After their two-year internship, they have a better chance of finding a job.
Despite these successes, the work continues. And you can find out how this work continues at our event: Sexual violence in South Africa: hushed up – commonplace – full of consequences. Alongside other speakers from terre des hommes schweiz, Sinikiwe Biyela, Director of LifeLine Pietersmaritzburg, will talk about successful victim support and prevention work at LifeLine. Afterwards she will be available for questions.
Event details
Date: Monday, April 7, 2014
When: 6.30 p.m.
Where: Unternehmen Mitte, Salon 1. floor in Basel (Gerbergasse 30)
Registration by e-mail to: s.tankerville(at)terredeshommes.ch
Phone: +41 61 338 91 32
You can become part of this project and become a sponsor. Our donation service will be happy to help you: 061 338 91 38 or write to info(at)terrdeshommes.ch
