SURVIVOR TO CHAMPION

PIC 1: Jenta  ploughing at one of her  farms.

  

     Jenta is a dedicated changemaker in  her community, she does a lot to help her community but she is motivated by her own experience. In 2018, Jenta was a victim of gang rape, as she tells this moving story of the encounter, her eyes are filled with tears as she relives this painful memory.

    “I was from a night vigil with a group of friends, when the gang attacked us, the other girls managed to escape the tragedy, but unfortunately the gang of four me got hold of me, and they raped in turns.  Nothing ever prepared me for this life threating situation, I really got scared and I could cry every time I remembered what happened that night I did not what to do, I confided in my mother who splattered blames on me. That’s what killed all my hopes and suicidal thoughts lingered my mind every time.”

At 20 years, Jenta was forced to move out of her home and she got married to her boyfriend due to pressure and blames she got from parents. Her home also brought the painful memories of the incident. The man was the only person who she felt understood her situation and she could confide in.

“I remember, I went to the hospital to seek medical attention four days after the incident because I was scared. My husband was the one who took me to the hospital because we had decided to settle with him since I couldn’t handle the discrimination at home. I was not aware of the Dos and Don’ts of after rape as I am informed nowadays. I was a lucky one because I never got any infections.

Forced out of her family, Jenta settles with the man she thinks she trusts with her situation and can count on at all time. But this doesn’t last.  She trusted the man to support her heal completely but it didn’t last long before the man also started blaming her for the predicaments that got her.

“You know, with time my husband attitude started changing, every time we had an argument as any marriage has ups and downs, my husband blamed me for the fact that I got rape. He one day told me that he knows that I enjoyed the act and am only pretending that the incident affected me, that’s when I realized that this incident is here to haunt me everywhere as much as I try to run from the reality.”

It was very disheartening for her every time she got blamed of the rape incident especially from the close people in her life. But that did not put off the excitement she had when there were educational sessions to young girls in the community.

“Who doesn’t want money, at first I attended these educational forums for the allowances they gave us, and at that time getting my first Ksh. 600 motivated me to continuously attend the sessions. But I tell you with time, my perception of these forums changed you know, it wasn’t the money any more, but it was the knowledge I got from them and I realized I needed to learn more.”

 “I got to know about UCAHAEC in 2019 when I was asked to mobilize 30 girls for a session in the community by the field officer because I became a frequent face in most of their trainings.” After that I was regularly involved in UCAHAEC and I was called for a life skills training and I was happy I was being trained to go help other young people in my community.”

 The GBV sensitization forums that Jenta attended started being a nuisance to her, she felt pricked anytime the facilitators talked about rape, and she didn’t understand why that could be a topic of discussions in the forums. This rape topic was sensitive to her because of her the rape experience she had gone through and couldn’t reveal it to anyone at that time. It became difficult for Jenta to disclose her situation, but when she was beginning to sit back and feel helpless about her situation, she got an opportunity to understand that she wasn’t in this fight alone, because her fellow participants had gone through GBV incidents too. She got an opportunity to undergo training on legal issues, human rights, conflict resolutions methods, dos and don’ts of rape.

“The training was an opener for me, the facilitators stressed on appreciating others. After redefining myself that day, I have been able to encourage other young girls who are victims of GBV and impact their lives, and that’s makes me happy, It’s an achievement you know.”

After the training, Jenta made it her mission to educate girls in the community and has done it actively since 2019, she has been invited to a number of GBV champions’ trainings as an opportunity to share her story with other survivors and heal from her traumatic experience.

“Currently, I am GBV ambassador and   I have a GBV psychosocial support group with 6 other GBV survivors. As the chairlady of the group, I ensure every member feels safe and appreciated in the group. We have weekly meeting and the sessions mostly involve participatory methods as this allows input of each member of the group.”

Her group aims at creating awareness on GBV and Human rights Information to the community. The group has been able to attend community Barraza to create awareness to the community. She continues to look out for GBV cases in the community and has supported the reporting and follow up of GBV cases.

Although she faces many challenges of limited resources to implement most of her plans. The little she gets from her small farm, she uses to assist other young GBV victims, she is not about to give up, she wants to stretch herself to the best she can to help other survivors.

“I continue to work hard in my farm as I continue to champion and change one person at a time’. UCAHAEC- AYP project found me when I needed someone to realign me. They got me at a time I needed to remake myself and make fences with myself. Sharpening my skills on GBV matters and leadership skills has truly helped me to truly act as a true champion to other young people in my community. I can’t express how thank full I am.”