skills
Marianne Merten
Cape Town is often described as the rape capital of the world and it is here that Albanian women – who deal with survivors of horrendous mass rapes – came to share and learn.
Discussion of rape is still very much a taboo in Kosovo and Albania, says executive director of Albania’s Family Planning Association Valentia Leskaj. “It was not easy for a Kosovar woman to declare, ‘I’ve been raped.’ It’s a cultural problem.”
Leskaj and Ina Prifti, a final-year psychology student who worked with rape survivors in the Kosovar refugee camps in Albania, are in Cape Town to share skills, experiences and lessons. Earlier this month Rape Crisis counsellors Kathleen Dey and Ntombomzi Tinto visited Albania, Ireland and England.
Leskaj said there are similarities between Albanian and South African social and economic dynamics: as South Africa emerged from apartheid, Albania is emerging from decades of communist rule. “We are in a time where we are trying some new norms and values and at the same time we are losing others.”
At the height of the Kosovo crisis when hundreds of thousands gathered in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, the association trained 18 volunteers to counsel rape survivors in Albanian camps.
Prifti said it was difficult to break through the barriers the women had built around themselves. “They think rape is a problem that is only theirs. In the beginning they did not want to speak.”
Recounting their experiences in Albania, Tinto said luckily South Africa was never faced with a war situation. “But we still see rape happening every day. It’s a different kind of war and we are still fighting it,” she says. “We cannot give up.”
How to tackle social taboos around rape is an issue facing both organisations. Rape Crisis is running a “Break the Silence” campaign but insists this can only be done if the woman is comfortable enough so she will not be traumatised again.
Leskaj said it is a difficult balance to tread. During the Kosovo refugee crisis, media reports helped focus world attention on what was happening, but often reporters would simply barge into the office and ask her about rape stories.
The Albanian association wants to set up services for rape survivors and abused women outside its family planning centres where medical doctors counsel women. Centres have been opened where people can get information on anything from dealing with sexual assault, Aids/HIV and reproductive rights.
There are special challenges in Albania where a widening gap between rich and poor often leads to exploitation. The organised trafficking of prostitutes means dozens of young women are kidnapped or tricked with promises of jobs in Western Europe.
The Albanian and South African women say the visits have helped them. Says Dey: “The work we do has an impact internationally. It’s about making a difference with each person that we help, each person who learns something at our workshops.”