Hope and recovery from a shattered childhood
By Didier Nagifi, Communications Officer
The story below is told by Anne*, a 12-year-old refugee child from the Central African Republic who lives with her parents in Kotakoli, in the province of Nord-Ubangi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In her own words, she recounts how she was raped by her older sister's ex-husband when she visited him and became pregnant. Today, she has a child that struggling to bring up.
‘’My name is Anne*, I'm 12 years old and I'm a refugee from the Central African Republic. We arrived in North Ubangi in 2017 by crossing the Ubangi River. We fled the conflict between the Barakas and the Selekas. People were being killed every day. That's how we came to flee to Kotakoli as i returned from fetching water.
When we arrived here, we were welcomed by a family who gave us a place to sleep for a while. During the first few months of our stay, my older sister, aged 16, was knocked up by a Congolese man and they had a child. This same Congolese man used to call me into his pharmacy where he sold medicines. He sometimes gave me money. One day, I went to his pharmacy and when I got there, he closed the door and raped me.
When I got home, I didn't say anything to my father, because he's too mean. I was too scared. A few weeks later, when the community volunteers in charge of child protection were raising awareness, I met one of them. I confided in her and explained everything that had happened to me.
She quickly took me to the hospital to be examined. The results showed that I was pregnant. Following this result, my father asked me to name the person responsible for the pregnancy. I gave him the name, and he found that it was my older sister's ex-husband. My father was so moved that he quickly went to see the head of the group to report the incident and ask for the courts to get involved. Unfortunately, the executioner had fled.
-I'd never had sex in my life, and I only saw blood for the first time the day I was raped. Because of this situation, I became pregnant. Whenever I went to school and i was playing with my friends or when we went down to the river, they would ask me why I'd got pregnant. I'd tell them that I hadn't wanted to and that I'd been raped. As the pregnancy progressed, I often fell so ill that I stopped going to school and helping my mother to fetch water.
During the day, I always felt tired and did nothing. When I woke up, all I could do was sweep the yard. And if I didn't feel well when I was doing the housework, I'd go to hospital for treatment When I was pregnant, all my clothes didn't fit any more. My father used to help me sew some of the dresses I wore. All the food I ate was bad and I threw up.
With the support of World Vision, I received medical care until my child was born. My child is a boy and was born on 5 February 2023. To ensure my survival and that of my baby, World Vision took charge of my socio-economic reintegration by assisting me with 250 USD. My child and I are currently doing well. The man who did all this has never been found.
My wish is to go back to school and learn cutting and sewing so that I can become a seamstress and make a living. I advise girls my age to be careful so that they don't fall victim to the rape I suffered. What happened to me was not my wish, so all girls my age should be careful that what happened to me doesn't happen to them. Parents need to protect their children so that they don't become victims of sexual violence.’’
For dignity and protection of the victim, we used Anne* as a pseudonym.