Do you know that you are really beautiful? Aren’t you just beautiful, are you beautiful?
If you were a girl and they said this to you, how would you react? Maybe with a shy ‘thank you’, maybe even with a smile. But what if I was a student and to tell you so he was a professor?
Last October, BBC Africa Eye released a report that shocked the continent. Three academics, Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu, from the University of Lagos, prof. Ransford Gympo and Dr. Paul Kwame Butakor, from the University of Ghana, were filmed while luring female students to their offices, promising better grades and admissions to the exams.
In a few days, the video went viral, but this phenomenon has destroyed African youth for decades. In most cases, the indecent proposals end in real sexual abuse that the girls, intimidated by the teachers’ threats, never report. Those who denounce are not listened to.
Africa EYE listened. In a year he investigated and, after dozens of testimonies, sent journalist Kiki Mordi on a mission.
<< When I was in university, I was sexually abused. And I’m not the only one >>.
Kiki returns to UniLag, but in the shoes of a seventeen year old looking for information. The art department professor, Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu, invites her to her office to ‘talk’. The cameras don’t hide anything. Nothing is edited. When Kiki enters, the professor locks the door. He offers her drinks. Comments on the girl’s physical appearance, inappropriate compliments, personal questions. You are a virgin? How many kids have you been with?
Dr. Boniface is also a preacher, pastor of the local church, therefore there is no lack of moments of prayer and biblical studies.
<< Once, we were preparing for the Bible study, and he touched me >> confesses one of the ex-students. << He touched me, and wrote down the verses >>.
Some of the girls raped by Igbeneghu attempted to commit suicide. Others have left the university. Along with early and involuntary pregnancies, dropping out of school is one of the biggest consequences of abuse.
In Tanzania, a 2012 Legal and Human Rights Center (LHRC) report reports 43,129 pupils forced to leave school. According to the United Nations Population Fund, 1,971 early school pregnancies are in Senegal. Over the three years, 2010-2011, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014, the Sedhiou region was in the lead (30% of cases), followed by Ziguinchor (19%), Kolda (9%), Matam (6% ) and Thiès (6%).
Sexual violence is a plague that has spread for African countries for decades: Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Gabon, Morocco. And if the advances do not make enough noise among the school desks, we get to talk about real rapes at work, on the street, and within the walls of the house. For too long, the issue has been underestimated. The body of the woman trampled. For Nigerian students, it took years of investigation and evidence gathering. It was necessary for a journalist to put her own safety at risk by entering Boniface Igbeneghu’s office because the girls’ voices were not enough.
According to Penda Diouf, national president of the Committee for the fight against violence against women (CLVF ), in Senegal, there is a need for more awareness, to educate men and women on the basic rules of consent. And eradicate once and for all the chances of blaming the victim.
“How do you see a girl and, only on the basis of her clothes, sexually harass her?” Penda wonders. “No excuse justifies gender-based violence, especially sexual harassment; neither the place nor the moment, much less the clothes “.
Sometimes sensitizing is not enough. It is necessary to take the situation in hand from the legal point of view and protect the victims after the abuse.
In South Africa, Lawyers Against Abuse was born, a body of lawyers against this type of violence. According to the New York Times, one in five women are raped by their partner in the town of Diepsloot, Johannesburg; 40,000 violence occurs annually but, since 2003, only 6% have been reported. Out of 500 cases, only one ends with a final sentence.
Lawyers Against Abuse are committed to making the police take sexual crimes seriously. “We have noticed distrust from the police, particularly with victims of domestic violence, who are often told that theirs is a family problem,” says Lindsay Henson, LAA. “We had a client whom the police said was not ‘ the African way ‘ to deal with problems like this.” Lawyers Against Abuse know how to deal with them. Legal support is complemented by various types of therapy, such as theater courses, to help victims control anxiety and acquire greater self-esteem.
In 2019, the program provided assistance to over 800 women, including 68 cases in court, and 28 ended with a conviction. But the violence in Diepsloot is on the rise, according to South African police. For Bandile Seleme, LAA therapist, it’s a great thing.
“From my point of view, the increase in reported attacks and rape may seem negative, but I think it actually tells a different story about how effective we are in getting women to come forward.” And many more will come forward if no one forces them to choose silence instead of action. It is not just an African problem. It’s not just a female issue. For decades the politics of non-saying has broken whole lives. If these women had the strength to speak, the time has come for us to listen to them.
Original Article: Afroitalian souls
