Emerance
“Half my family died that night.”
Name: Emerance
Age: 20
One of the soldiers grabbed hold of me and tied me to him with his belt. My father protested, he said I was too young, they couldn’t take me with them. My brother got really angry and shouted at them to let me go. They shot him. He died instantly.
Wendy
“I’m afraid, but I have to cope.”
Name: Wendy
Age: 34
My plan is to find a job where I can look after children, or work in a shop, but I can’t work in a factory because I can’t lift heavy things. I’ve developed osteoporosis, after all the pregnancies. I’ve got four children who are alive, and I lost one in the fourth month.
Nyota
“I lied about the rape because I thought my mother would beat me.”
Name: Nyota
Age: 14
She stands up during the conversation, she can’t keep her legs together and it hurts too much to sit down. Her mother, Nyabisepela, is furious and wants to tell us what happened. She wants the world to know what happened to her first-born daughter. Nyota also answers our questions. We interview them briefly before we take Nyota to hospital.
Henna
“I’m glad he’s a boy.”
Name: Henna
Age: 21
I left my family when I was 16. I’d had enough. My father was away working in different jobs most of the time, and my mother only cared about my brother and wouldn’t let me have any friends of my own. So I left home and joined up with some other girls. Life on the street has taught me that I’m a survivor, I’ve worked and I’ve managed to look after myself.
They can’t buy my soul, and they can’t buy my heart.
Rasha
“It felt like I was being torn to pieces!”
Name: Rasha
Age: 14
It was a black day. When I got home there was a strange woman there. They held me down and it hurt. It felt like I was being torn to pieces!
The way I feel now is that not everything that people say is true and real, grown-ups don’t know everything. Some of them don’t know anything.
It was done so that we girls will grow up quickly and become modest. But we aren’t modest, we’re just scared.
Rafaela
“He’s changed. He’s a new man and I love him.”
Name: Rafaela
Age: 24
I broke up with him several times and went back to live with my mother, but I always went back to him. He was so full of regret, and I love him.
Faranza
“I pray to Allah that no girl ever needs to be born in Pakistan.”
Name: Faranza
Age: 63
I had six children altogether with my first husband, but only three survived.
We lived with his family, and it wasn’t really my husband who was the main problem, it was my brother-in-law.