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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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Botswana Gazette / afrol.com, 15 November - Shattered Hopes. This is the name given to the study on the sexual abuse of girls, launched by Metlhaetsile Women's Information Centre in Botswana last week. The study, which is the first of its kind to be conducted in Botswana, especially in rural areas, surveyed 800 students - including 422 girls aged 13-16 years old - to find out the prevalence of sexual abuse among them; their rate of sexual activity; whether or not they have ever been forced or coerced to have sex and if so, who is doing the coercion and whether or not they use condoms. The surveys, conducted by UNICEF and Roberta Rivers of of RCR and Associates, were conducted in 12 schools in the Ngamiland, Kgalagadi and Kweneng Districts with one school in Mahalapye. The surveyors said 38% of the girls questioned reported that they had been touched in a sexual manner without their consent. 17% reported having had sex, with 50% of these saying that it was forced. 34% of the students said they had sex for money, gifts or favours and of those sexually active, 48% said they have never used a condom. The report, written by Roberta Rivers admits that this was not a representative group to determine sexual abuse in Botswana. To get a bigger picture of the problem, 40 people in those areas - teachers, dikgosi, parents and community leaders- were interviewed to get their impressions, opinions and experiences on the subject. According to the researchers, many of the results were affected by the fact that some students did not understand the questions posed in English, even though as Junior and Senior Secondary School students, their language of instruction is English. The surveyors also acknowledged that many of the students did not admit to sexual activity out of fear for their reputations. There were even instances where students who said they were not sexually active contradicted themselves by saying they always use a condom. Metlhaetsile launched the report to jump start their campaign against the sexual abuse of children which will include billboards, brochures and informational workshops to accompany the work that the drama group is currently doing in schools around the country. As they travel from village to village performing "Real Men Don't Abuse" they are also performing a work about sexual abuse in Junior and Senior Secondary Schools. Metlhaetsile held an informational dinner 31st October at the Grand Palm to encourage stakeholders to get involved in the fight against sexual abuse. Barclay's Bank donated Pula 100,000 in start up funds, and they are hoping to get more to possibly fund a national study that will address every aspect of the issue. - There are different dimensions to it everywhere. Poverty plays a big part. Like kids getting gifts for sex. There was the case of a head teacher who was abusing a child and the mother knew about it, but since he gave them food, she shut her eyes to it, said Monica Tabengwa, CEO of Metlhaetsile. The fact that abuse takes different forms in different parts of the country was not lost on the surveyors. Often in rural areas, girls are offered gifts by older men - of food and uniforms where in urban areas like Gaborone, the gifts are more likely to take the form of clothing and cellular phones. They also acknowledged that a study needs to take place among 17-19 year olds for whom sexual activity is far more prevalent, especially with grown men. In the age group that was the focus of Shattered Hopes, the researchers found that most of the sexual harassment, unwanted touching and forced sex came from peers - young men the same age as the girls surveyed. Metlhaetsile wants, as a final objective, to use this and any other study that comes from it to develop ways for sexually abused young people-girls and boys-to get help. For example, if a student is being abused, there is really no place for them to go. According to Tabengwa, "If no one in a school takes action, you can got to the police, but it never happens. It just won't go anywhere. If the parents can't help, usually the student drops it." - There are no structures for redress, so that what we are trying is to get people to create clear channels of communication.
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