Working with victims of sexual torture and rape

1. Working with victims of sexual torture and rape Survivors of Sexual Assault (SOSA) Project - A Zimbabwe Experience Fidelis Mudimu Counselling Services Unit IRCT-SSA Regional Workshop Yaounde Cameroun 10-14 December 2012

2. Introduction Introduction: • The Zimbabwe Presidential election of 2008 was characterised by widespread violence and torture. • This violence affected men, women and children. • Most of the violence occurred in the rural areas. In these areas most of the men left their homes in fear of victimization and torture. It was difficult for the women to follow suit because of their huge responsibilities in the home. • These women became easy targets of violence, especially in cases where their husbands were known to support the opposition party. • With the male household members on the run the perpetrators turned mercilessly to the vulnerable women and children. • Most of the women were beaten and some of them were sexually abused. • In July 2011, CSU staff noticed an increased number of females who reported sexual violations in 2008.

3. Overall Project Goal The overall goal was the healing and empowering of female Survivors of Sexual Abuse (SOSA) who are well-informed and actively participate in their communities and providing psychosocial support to other women in their communities with similar problems. The trained women would also form part of the referral network from which CSU received its clients.

4. Objectives • To facilitate healing after sexual abuse • To share information on resources available for sexually abused women • To empower women to come up with support groups that will meet regularly • To equip women with basic care and support skills which the women would use in their communities to offer support to survivors of Organized Violence and Torture (OVT) in their communities. • To counsel spouses of SOSA, so that they may be able to provide the much needed emotional support to the SOSA women.

5. Methodology • A keynote address was done by the Minister of Gender and Women’s Affairs who noted how women and other vulnerable members of society become easy prey for politically motivated violence. • Survivors shared the traumatic rape incidents in groups. They explored thoughts, feelings and reactions before, during and after the rape.

6. Methodology • Psycho-education on rape followed. • Care and support skills training were supplied to survivors and male counsellors. • The objectives of these workshops were carried out through group discussions, role plays and multi media presentation. • Participants were divided into small teams. Each team was given a specific topic to work on. The topics were as follows: Definition of counselling; Qualities of a counsellor and the Dos and Don’ts of counselling. After about 20 minutes of small group discussions, participants made presentations to the rest of the participants through a team leader.

7. Methodology • Role plays on conducting a counselling session were done. The participants were given scenarios which they role played. The participants volunteered to take up the roles of counsellor and client. They enacted the four main stages of counselling namely the trust building and establishing a relationship, exploration (understanding the problem), resolution (decision making) and termination. A different pair did each of the stages using the same case scenario.

8. Progress • A total of three workshops were conducted for SOSA women. One Support Skills Training workshop was done with lay male counselors. These male counselors were to offer counselling and support to the spouses of SOSA women.

9. Progress Initial workshops • Participants shared traumatic experiences resulting in emotional catharsis. • Psycho education, experience of universality and group support were fostered. Reframing of trauma done and this facilitated moving on with Life • Support group concept introduced clients challenged to form support groups in their communities

10. Progress Subsequent meetings • Reviewed participants progress on healing and implementation of support groups. • Participants reported coping emotionally better but coping hindered by spouses who failed to support then but instead ridiculed them and blamed them for abuse. • Participants requested counselling for their spouses. • Support groups had been implemented successfully.

11. Support Skills Training of male counselors. These counselors were to provide counselling to the spouses of SOSA. • Trained male counselors provided counselling to the spouses of the women. • Most women reported improvement in relationship with spouses.

12. Outcomes so far • The survivors have already started to use the skills that they acquired to provide psychosocial support to other women in their communities and are referring others to CSU. By training these women, CSU has also widened its referral network.

13. Other organisations have assisted the women in starting up poultry projects. It is hoped that money generated from the projects will help in meeting the financial needs of the women. CSU will assist in monitoring the poultry projects as they will also provide space for peer support.

14. It is also planned that CSU will work with Musasa Project (Domestic Violence) provide continued community psychosocial support to the SOSA women. Musasa Project is currently working on a project to assist female survivors of domestic violence. It is envisioned that Musasa Project will provide the necessary psychosocial support of these women (Extra-domestic violence) in their respective communities.

15. Thank you!