Every ten minutes a woman is raped in South Africa. Almost every second young woman under 18 has been raped once. Our partner organization LifeLine supports the victims and carries out major prevention work in South Africa. Sinikiwe Biyela, Director of LifeLine Pietersmaritzburg, will visit us on April 7 and will report on the work of LifeLine.
A study on sexual violence in South Africa, in which about 1800 men from all walks of life participated, shows that more than a quarter have raped a girl or a woman at least once and that a large proportion of the rapists are HIV positive.
Shame, feelings of guilt and depression up to attempted suicide are the result. Out of fear of social exclusion 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 organisation LifeLine is fighting against these conditions. And it is working successfully: To date, 11 contact points have already been established. In the LifeLine contact point in the town of Escourt alone, 1036 girls and women were cared for in 2013. The volunteers in the educational work reach about 5000 people in the communities every year. In addition, LifeLine trains 20 unemployed young people as community workers every year. After their two-year internship they have better chances of finding work.
Despite these successes, the work continues. And you can find out how this work is continuing at our event: Sexual Violence in South Africa: Deadly Silence - Everyday Life - With Consequences. Sinikiwe Biyela, director of LifeLine Pietersmaritzburg, will speak about successful victim support and prevention work at LifeLine, among other speakers from terre des hommes schweiz. Afterwards she will be available for questions.
Event details
Date: Monday 7 April 2014
When: 18.30 hours
Where: Unternehmen Mitte, Salon 1st floor in Basel (Gerbergasse 30)
Registration via e-mail to: s.tankerville(at)terredeshommes.ch
Phone: +41 61 338 91 32
You can become part of this project and take over a sponsorship. Our donation service will be happy to help you: 061 338 91 38 or write to info(at)terrdeshommes.ch
