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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2012 05:28 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2012 05:28 |
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If I walked through the bush, and in chest-high water through the river, and through more thick bush, and I crawled under the wire and climbed over the electric fence to reach South Africa If I came through the river because I had no money for the documents, nor to bribe officials at the border post, but I was so desperate Will I be turned away? If I was attacked and gang raped by the guma-gumas as I made my way through the bush, and was made to take all my clothes off as I went through the river, and I arrived in South Africa with no documents Will I be turned away? If I seek medical help and counselling If I cannot identify the rapists and the evidence of the rapes was washed away in the river Will I be turned away? If I report the rape to the police and ask that the rapists are caught, and they should be made to pay for their terrible deeds, and if I cannot identify them, and I am regarded as illegal, and I fear the police, and I fear deportation, and I fear going to the hospital, I fear being raped again in South Africa, And I feel so totally alone and Unprotected Where do I go for help? Ndekupi kwandinowana rubatsiro? Nka hwetsa thuso kae? Ndi nga wana ngafhi thuso? This poem was written by Agnes Mahachi and Tafadzwa Chikandiwa during the Powa/CDP 16 Days of No Violence against Women Project in Musina November 2009. View more on our special report on 16 days of activism here  .  CONTINUES BELOW TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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