Zimbabwe: Campaign against violence against girls
Violence against girls and women is widespread in the villages of the Mazowe district. Their financial dependence forces many women to endure daily insults and beatings. Terre des Hommes and the organization “Musasa” support these women and their children on their path to a self-determined life.
“I don’t like to remember my childhood. My family was very poor, my father violent. I witnessed him beating my mother countless times,” recalls 23-year-old Chido. “I was in sixth grade when he told me I couldn’t go to school anymore because he couldn’t afford it. When I was a teenager, my father brought a stranger home and ordered me: ‘You’re going to marry this man!’ So I ran away to my boyfriend. But when I got pregnant by him, he abandoned me.”.
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It was hard to raise the child alone. That's why I married another man and had another child. After the marriage, he started complaining that my first child was a burden to him. He neglected and abused it. When I intervened, he hit me too. One day he beat me so badly that I ran away with both children
Fortunately, the women's organization Musasa offered a discussion group in Chido's village at that time. Chido participated, and hope quickly blossomed within her: “The staff members from Musasa spoke about their work with women who have experienced violence. Tears came to my eyes as I listened: I knew that for the first time I had found people who would be willing to listen to my story and help me.”
With Musasa's support, Chido applied for child support for her second child – and was successful. She also participated in a workshop for women that taught her entrepreneurial basics and encouraged her to start her own business.
With a starting grant of $50, she became self-employed as a bean grower. With the profits from selling the beans, Chido built a small house and now provides for her children independently. "I am now an independent, single mother," Chido says proudly.
Taking control of one's own life
Terre des Hommes partner organization Musasa helps girls and women like Chido. At the shelter, they can live temporarily, receive medical care, psychosocial support, and legal advice. Further education programs offer them the opportunity to start their own small businesses. To prevent domestic violence, teenage pregnancies, high-risk abortions, and forced marriages from occurring in the first place, Musasa also works with youth groups in the villages. These groups ensure that violence against girls and women is recognized for what it is: a crime that must be condemned and punished.