From The Times
March 11, 2009

Sticking its red nose in where it matters

Funded by Comic Relief, an Ethiopian women's group has helped to send a child rapist to jail Angela Robson Meseret, who thinks she is 8 or 9, sits between two middle-aged women. She looks adoringly at them. “I am happy to be helped by these ladies,” she says. “They took the man to the police and I hope he doesn't come back.” The “man” was a neighbour who late last year asked her to come to his house to prepare coffee for him. Meseret, who had been trafficked to Awasa, Ethiopia, from her village in the south of the country two years previously, was employed in the home of a lady she called “Aunty”. When she turned up, the man put a pillow over her head, stuffed some dirty rags into her mouth and raped her. It was raining heavily and no one heard her screams.

Meseret, who has no shoes and is dressed in a dirty pink T-shirt, describes the incident almost as if it had happened to somebody else, with no emotion.

Her case has been taken up by a group of women from the slums of Awasa in Ethiopia, supported by the charity Jeccdo - the Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organisation.

Jeccdo was set up in the wake of the 1985 famine, in response to the country's growing number of orphaned, vulnerable children. It currently works in some of the poorest urban communities in Ethiopia and is funded by grants from Comic Relief.

“I came across her, crying on the street, and asked what was wrong,” says Sossina Gebreyes, who owns the small homestead where Meseret has been describing what happened to her.

“Her neck and face were badly bruised. She couldn't walk or lift anything. At first she would tell me only about the woman she'd been working for, who had thrown her out. We realised that there was more to it than that and took her to hospital. When she was examined, we saw the terrible bruises on her thighs and her other injuries, and we vowed that this man would go to court.” The man who raped Meseret already had a criminal record for domestic violence, including the assault of one of his own children.

What is unusual about this case, according to Getachew Zewdie, the manager of Jeccdo in Awasa, is that the man was arres- ted at all.“The culture and tradition in Ethiopia is not open,” he says. “In families where a girl or woman has been raped they will normally keep this information secret because they are afraid of being judged. This will bring shame to the family because the girl is no longer a virgin.

“In many cases where rape is discovered, families will come to an arrangement with the rapist whereby a marriage is arranged.” “What is extraordinary,” continues Getachew, “is that the man was handed over to the police by a group of impoverished slum women in their fifties.”

Sossina Gebreyes, who is now looking after Meseret, is a member of a Jeccdo self-help group, operating in the slum community where the child was raped. Seven women from this group have actively taken on Meseret's case. As well as gathering evidence about what happened and taking the case to the authorities, they are also making sure that Meseret is given social and psychological support.

“Ethiopia is a very male-dominated society and a woman's status is considered quite low so her full potential is often not realised,” says Getachew Zewdie. “The self-help groups create intimacy among women who often lead quite insular, isolated lives at home. Many of these women turn their lives around in ways which are quite dramatic - often in a very short space of time.”

A self-help group typically consists of 15-20 people who come from the same neighbourhood. Women who are either carers of orphan children or who are single parents are prioritised for involvement.

The main aim is to save money and set up their own small income-generating schemes, such as basket-weaving or dressmaking. The women then share in the profits from their businesses, providing a better standard of living for themselves and their families. Training is given on self-confidence techniques and conflict resolution.

“If we don't stand up for Meseret,” Sossina says, “the problems will come right back to our own door. This child has no family so she has become our child.”

Bogalech Defar, a tiny woman enveloped in a traditional white embroidered cotton shawl and matching dress, says that she also knows what it feels like to be dis- empowered. For the duration of her 22-year marriage, she rarely left home. When her husband died, she was too scared to go out at all.

“To begin with, I sold all my jewellery to pay for my children's education. Then I sold our home,” she says.

“When the money ran out, I felt that I was a burden on my children and I decided that they were better off without me. I took my mattress to church and asked the nuns to take me in. I was frustrated and ashamed of myself and the way I had conducted my life.” Bogalech's priest pleaded with her to return home to her children but she refused. It was only when her oldest child came to the church with a member of Jeccdo to tell her about a free business skills course for women that Bogalech relented.

“The Jeccdo lady didn't judge me,” she says. “She listened to me and said that she, too, had come from nothing and had struggled. Then she told me about the courses she had done and how they'd given her confidence.

“Something happened to me when I heard about that training. It was like the full moon had entered my mind, sweeping out the dark thoughts. I couldn't sleep for excitement the night before the first class. When I left home, my children were clapping and singing. It was the first time in 23 years that I had gone out on my own.”

Urban slum communities in Ethiopia face a multitude of challenges: lack of sanitation, poor healthcare, limited job opportunities, and transient populations - the list goes on. The population of Awasa's slums has swollen significantly in the past year because of the country's continuing food crisis, with migrants pouring in from the surrounding countryside.

“The most vulnerable members of these communities are orphan children, many of whom live and work on the streets,” says Pete Jones, director of St Matthew's Children's Fund Ethiopia, Jeccdo's UK partner.

“Most street orphan children don't go to school, rarely have enough food to eat and suffer from serious health problems,” he says. “They are particularly vulnerable to the advances of unscrupulous adults who use them as unpaid servants. In some cases this leads to physical and sexual abuse. There is an urgent need to enable these communities to find their own solutions to their problems.”

The part of Awasa into which eight-year-old Meseret was trafficked used to be one of the poorest and most dangerous zones of the city. But since Jeccdo started working with the local community, things have begun, slowly, to change. A school for street children and orphans, run by Jeccdo, is now achieving good grades despite the challenges for the children attending. Many turn up filthy, tired and unfed but thrive on the pastoral care and the three hours of free tuition.

Fourteen-year-old Tegan has been attending the school for the past year. Every night he sleeps under a stairwell in the city centre, cuddling up with a group of 20 other boys to keep warm. He came to Awasa when his mother died and his father remarried. He gets up early to beg, rarely eats breakfast before school and hides his class books under a pavement slab so that they won't be stolen.

Unlike the other children in the school, he looks clean and washed, and his uniform is immaculate. “That's because I wash it once a week in the river,” he says with pride. “I have to keep clean as I can't afford to miss school.” Getachew Zewdie says that Tegan is a highly intelligent child who will flourish, providing he keeps attending classes.

“He has huge challenges as a street child, but is a remarkable boy who seems to be able to rise above his social situation. Many of the other children here have huge problems - they regularly fall sick or turn up late. Tegan has some kind of inner strength and inspires the others.” Tegan, himself, says that his dream is “to become someone and support myself either as a doctor or teacher”. But this is not all he wants.

“My friends on the street pretend to be strong but sometimes I see them crying at night. Life shouldn't have to be like this. I'd like things to change for them.” An historic ruling in Awasa's High Court on February 28 gives a clear message that change should and can be possible. Meseret's rapist was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

“Previously, I would never have acted on a case like this. I would have been afraid of the consequences,” says Sossina Gebreyes. “The child would have been sent back to her family and the man would be still among us. Meseret is safe now and we will make sure she remains so.”

Some names in the article have been changed.

Links to other stories

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/05/2009_10_fri.shtml

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-13655753-details/Blair+outlines+vision+for+Africa/article.doc

http://www.ssinformer.com/ssi%20talk/ssit_10_08_07_001.html

http://www.lennyhenry.com/home/blog_archive.aspx?id=30

http://www.lennyhenry.com/home/blog_archive.aspx?id=30