Cyclone survivors unite against GBV

Camp leaders and police tackle gender-based violence (GBV) in affected zones, writes our Staff Writer JAMES CHAVULA.

In a low-lying village devastated by Cyclone Freddy in March, a 12-year-old girl, disguised as Teresa to protect her identity, stutters and shakes her head while narrating sexual abuse committed by her father.

“He took me from my mother when they separated, but it wasn’t to send me to school. It was to fulfill his sexual desires,” she says.

Teresa, who stopped schooling in Standard Four, accuses her father of showing her pornographic videos before defiling her.

She says this persisted for over a year, but she only disclosed it on March 21, a week after being displaced by the devastating flooding.

After revealing her ordeal to eight women at a camp of 450 displaced persons, Teresa refuses to return to her father’s home. Instead, she stayed put at the camp led by a 47-year-old woman who promptly reported the case to a village head living nearby.

“We couldn’t keep quiet. Just two days prior, we had received training on how to identify and handle GBV cases, including sexual violence. Here was a vulnerable girl saying she was fed-up with the sexual abuse from her father. She wanted to return to her mother,” the woman explains.

As the women discussed the next steps, the man arrived at the camp, threatening to beat the girl for “refusing to cook some relish”.

The village head recorded Teresa’s testimonies before summoning the 40-year-old father for questioning.

The chief recalls: “I asked him if he could recognise his daughter’s voice and he nodded. When I replayed the recording, he was speechless.

“I asked him to open his phone and the gallery was filled with the porn the girl had complained about.”

Subsequently, the chief reported the matter to Chikwawa Police Station, which deployed a rapid response team to arrest the suspect.

At the station, the police questioned the detainee while the women-dominated Victim Support Unit (VSU) staff took Teresa to Chikwawa District Hospital’s one-stop centre for checkups to establish the suspected defilement as well as possible pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

After the tests, the health workers gave Teresa pills to prevent HIV and a pregnancy while others counselled her to minimise the mental stress.

During his first court appearance, the man pleaded not guilty, but some neighbours admitted keeping mum about Teresa’s suffering.

Unicef is supporting Malawi Police Service to protect children and women in disaster zones, including evacuation camps, with funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Chikwawa police VSU coordinator Mvunthe, this support has improved safety, security and the management of GBV cases detected in camps.

He states: “The support is timely because GBV cases are rampant in our disaster-prone district, where some men take advantage of displacement, hunger and poverty to sexually assault women.

“We’ve recorded 11 cases from January to March this year, up from just nine during the same quarter last year.”

The reported defilement and rape cases surged in the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy, which affected 2.2 million in 14 districts across southern Malawi, including Chikwawa.

“In April alone, we have assisted five cases, nearly half of the quarterly count,” he says. “As protectors of lives, property and human rights, we first ensure the survivors are helped swiftly and with dignity, including when referred for medical checks and psychosocial support at the one-stop centre.”

Mvunthe salutes the chief, camp leaders and community leaders for not concealing the case.

“We expect community members to be open and firm against GBV. Sadly, some neighbours knew what the girl was going through. They didn’t need to keep quiet as the culture of silence encourages perpetrators of GBV to think they are above the law. We are happy that the camp leaders did not keep quiet, but ensured justice is done.”

Mvunthe also waxed lyrical about the chief’s delaying tactics.

“Our job was made easier because we just picked him up and took the girl to the one-stop centre,” he says.

The soft-spoken chief explains why he called the police.

He recounts: “I invited him into the house to watch a televised football match until they picked him up without much ado. I didn’t handcuff the suspect, but I arrested him using mere words.

“I quickly reported the matter because I don’t have the necessary skills and legal authority to investigate and try criminal matters, including sexual violence.