Tanzania, Morogoro - I just finished an 40 minute interview with Josephine Bakhita, the founder of Amani centre. She was sitting on her chair and I was standing all the time to secure my camera from shaking. It was hot and muggy. On one hand I was very interested in the topic and her stories on the other I wanted to go home, drink water and take a rest. Finally she finished saying that recently she had been in the conference in Bangkok about disability and she learnt that a lot has to be done in Tanzania.
I was off to go but Josephine called me and introduced to Maria, 17-years old girl - the mother of Jennifer. The mother of Maria brought her to the centre while she was raped again by local men in village. One of the result of those rapings was Jennifer, a pretty girl you can see on the video.
One of the topic I was discussing during the interview with Josephine was the need for awareness rising about situation of people with disability in the society. Tanzania, which is quite peaceful country comparing to the neighbours (and very proud of it), recently has struggled with the issue of albino's killing (albinism is one of the form of disability). Those killings are the higest form of discrimination of people with disability. That's way the government has appointed the albino MP - Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer to be responsible for the topic of discrimination in Tanzanian Parliament. Another think what government did was singing The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities* in April 2009 (as the 127 country).
Photo: IF. Maria with her mother and daughter,
While I met Maria lying in kanga on the stairs I wanted to hide the camera as I thought it is not right to make a story of somebody's tragedy. And then Josephine said - "please film her. People should know how disabled girls are threaten within the society."
So I did and finally I find the platform to tell this story and you are the first to watching it now. Hopefully the stories like this will appear on
Maria has been raped many times. While her mother went to the police to tell about the crime, everyone ignored her in the villiage. That's way she took the girl to Amani centre in Morogoro, which is 20 km. far from their villiage. She had to carry her daughter on the back as there is no public transport in the mountaines. From Amani centre Maria was sent to do a check-up in hospital. Fortunatelly she was not affected by HIV or other diseases yet.
The issue of sexual abuse of children and youth with disability targets to MDG 6 which stants for COMBAT HIV/AIDS
Disabled people are up to three times more likely to be victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse or rape as members of the general population, Dr. Nora Groce, Associate Professor at the Yale School of Public Health said in 2003, as they are often perceived as easy targets for violence by would-be perpetrators. In 2003 there were not enough literature and survey about disability and AIDS. More literature is now aviable but lobbing is still essencial. "This is a challenge to the government and society: to address the physiological and health needs of the disabled, or else their right to life will be perpetually under threat as result of sexual exploitation and abuse," Mpendwa Chihimba, chairperson of Women Fighting AIDS in Tanzania, a local nongovernmental organisation, acknowledged the magnitude of the problem.
Over 80%% of the 650 million persons with disabilities live in the poorest parts of the world. This means that over 20% of the poorest people globally are persons with disabilities. Disability was not mentioned when the Millennium Development Goals were launched in 2000. Since one in five of the world’s poor is affected by disabilities, their exclusion threatens achievement of the MDGs. It has been widely acknowledged that one of the shortcomings of the MDGs has been the exclusion of persons with disabilities. Taking this into account, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was drafted to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities into the development agenda and in 2007-2008 the UNCRPD was coming into force. However stories like Maria still happens, and not only in developing countries.
Sexual Abuse and Disability: Myths, Stereotypes and Realities |
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| ¤ Sexual abuse victims with disability are non-existent because people with disability are neither sexual nor attractive. | ¤ Sexual abuse is primarily motivated by power and control. Individuals with disability may be easier to manipulate and less likely to report. | |
| ¤ People with disability are either over-sexualized and unable to control their sexual impulses, or are asexual. | ¤ Young people with disability go through similar stages of development as their peers without disability. | |
| ¤ If young people with disability are protected and kept away from strangers, they will be safe from sexual abuse. | ¤ Most young people are sexually abused by those they know and trust. | |
| ¤ Young victims with disability don't fully understand what is happening to them so they will not feel emotional pain when they are sexually abused. | ¤ A young person with a disability may not have the same words to describe their pain, but their emotional anguish is very real. | |
| ¤ Young people with disability are incapable of understanding and relating information, and they are prone to fantasizing and lying. | ¤ They may process and communicate in different ways, but they are no less credible and truthful. | |
| ¤ People with disability are child-like; they never really become adults, therefore cannot become sexual abuse victims with disability. | ¤ While those with certain disabilities may not mature in the same manner or at the same rate as others, they do not remain children; therefore they can indeed become sexual abuse victims with disability. | |
*Poland still hasn't ratified the Convention as one of the last country in Europe
the 65th General Assembly of the UN, on 20th – 22nd September 2010 in New York.
Thanks for this post Iwona. Very informative. Yes, I myself dream that people with disabilities would be given more attention by the authorities. They need serious attention and serious help. Here in the Philippines, we don’t even have the required wheelchair ramps in all buildings. Really unfortunate.
Indeed, very informative, Iwona, especially the table - point 3 (I was about to raise the problem of letting disabled children out of the house on their own).
Hope we both get to hear that a special attention will be devoted to the disabled during the 65th General Assembly in UN headquarters - fingers crossed!
thanks. girls for support in the topic. it’s not very trendy, indeed…