Gretchen, aged 13
[Related Dispatches: The Lost Girls of South Africa ]
Around a third of rape victims are abused by a close relative. Thirteen-year-old Gretchen is highly unusual in that she took the initiative and turned to her school principal to help get her out of the house and away from her father.
A teacher in her school, Hope, takes Gretchen into her home to live with her and her two daughters temporarily, to keep her safe from her father, while social workers try and find a place for her and her mother to live.
Hope says 'it takes so long for help to come' and meanwhile many girls end up on the streets, selling themselves, as they have no support from social services or family. Hope asks social services for help, but their response is that because the child left the family home herself, there is nothing they can do and the teacher must simply take her back. We follow the teacher's fight to keep Gretchen safe from a father who freely admits on camera that he is addicted to the drug mandrax (methaqualone) and that he shares a bed with his daughter. Though he denies he has ever sexually abused her.
Gretchen despairs 'Sometimes you just want to kill yourself and leave everything behind'.
Read more:
Fuzeka
Nozuko
Ntombizanele
South Africa: Rape Facts
