By ANNIE ZULU
THE COVID-19 outbreak is considered as among the
worst pandemics in human history but for 14-year-old Mapalo (not real name), the
virus remains the greatest nightmare that will forever remain engraved in her
mind.
Mapalo, who is in her ninth grade and is scheduled
to write her junior secondary school examinations in December, was raped by two
men in her neighbourhood in Kafue District of Lusaka Province three weeks after
Government indefinitely closed all schools, colleges and universities on March
20, 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak.
With teary eyes, she told me how the unfortunate
incident happened.
She was on her way back home from escorting her
study mate and friend when she was attacked and dragged to a deserted unfinished
structure, a few metres from her house during midday, and raped.
“My
friend and I used to study from my place. On that particular day we had
finished studying and as usual escorted her, but on my way back home around 2
pm two men who were both tall and dark in complexion stopped me, claiming that they
wanted to ask me something.
“I
cannot remember what happened to me next, the only thing I remember is I was laying
on the floor in unfinished house alone and I had no underwear on me.
“When I stood up I felt pain all over my body and I
had bruises on my private parts. I knew I had just been raped, I was so scared
and I didn´t know what to do,” she
narrated.
Even though it has been almost seven months since
the whole ordeal happened, Mapalo is still traumatised and does not seem get
over it.
She has not been herself since the incident, as she
is always feeling nervous and her performance at school has been largely
affected.
She blames her predicament on the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to her, if there was no outbreak of the
pandemic, the rape incident wouldn´t have happened as she was going to be at
school at that particular time.
“Sometimes
I feel if things were normal, if there was no COVID-19 and schools were not
closed, none of that would have happened to me because I was going to be at
school with my friends,” Mapalo
said.
Mapalo’s aunt who preferred to be identified as
Rachael narrated that she only came to know about what happened to her niece
two weeks after the incident through a family friend who she (Mapalo) had told.
“I
noticed some changes in her behaviour, she was lost in thoughts, which was so
unusual of her. There was just something strange about her, I asked her several
times if she was sick but she refused. It never crossed my mind that she could
have been raped, because she was always home, considering the fact that COVID-19
was at its peak that time and everyone was adhering to the stay-home directive.
“I
only knew about the incident, when a neighbour and family friend she had
confided in came to talk to me and that was two weeks later. This whole thing
has left me devastated too, I feel like I have failed my niece,” Rachael said.
She stressed that even though the matter was
reported to the police, nothing much had been done to find the culprits.
Rachael only hopes that one day her niece would get
the justice she deserves, adding that the incident had left her shattered.
“She
still looks confused and traumatised. I have tried talking to her, but it has
not helped that much. I would like to see the culprits brought to book, because
this is wickedness. How can human beings do this to an innocent girl? This is
totally wrong, ” she said.
Another woman of Lusaka who spoke to me on condition
of anonymity, also narrated to me to how her 8-year-old daughter was molested
by her 16 -year-old nephew during the prolonged closure of schools.
The woman, who is a single mother of three used to
leave her two sons aged 4 and 6 and her 8-year-old daughter with their cousin,
while she went to sell vegetables at a nearby junction.
She said it was during these few hours that she was
away from home that her daughter was sexually abused by her teenage nephew.
“When
schools were closed following the outbreak of COVID-19, I left my children
under the care of my 16-year -old nephew who is in his 10thgrade. I
am a single mother and I had gone out to sell vegetables and look for money to
feed my family even at the peak of the pandemic. However, I was only aware from
home for approximately 5 hours everyday. ”
“I
would leave home for the junction at 9am and come back around 14:00hrs, little
did I know that during this short period of time I was away my daughter was being
sexually abused by her cousin, ”
she said.
According to her, she knew about her daughter´s rape
scenario when she complained to her about her stomach and private part hurting
one evening.
“When
I asked my daughter why she was experiencing this kind of pain, she told me her
cousin has been removing her pant and touching her private parts each time I
was out. I interrogated the boy and he admitted. This really shocked me because
I trusted him and he never looked like someone who could do such a thing. I treated
him like my own child and he was like a big brother to my children,” she said.
These two stories are among the many stories of
children, especially girls who have been defiled and sexually abused during the
prolonged closure of schools as a result of COVID-19.
Zambia recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March
18, 2020 and Government immediately ordered the indefinite closure of all
schools, colleges and universities, as one of the containment measures.
Although examination classes were allowed to reopen later
in July, the Government only ordered the rest of the classes to reopen on
September 14, 2020.
During this prolonged school closure, a day hardly
passed without stories of child defilement in the country.
The Zambia Police Gender Based Violence first
quarter statistics report of 2020 indicates that a total number 633 cases of
child defilement were reported, while the second quarter report shows that 554
cases were recorded countrywide totalling 1 187 cases in the two quarters.
These were just cases recorded by the Zambia police,
however, there are more cases of child defilement which might have been swept
under the carpet and not reported.
Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) Zambia an
organisation which responds to the socio-legal needs of women in the region and
to develop women’s rights methodologies, notes that the closure of schools
during lockdown created room for child abuse, especially sexual abuse.
WLSA Zambia Programme Manager Besa Mwansa said in an
interview that this was because children spent much time at home and in their
neighbourhood which exposed them to perpetrators.
"The
closure of schools itself became the trigger in the sense that children who
ordinarily go to school in the morning and come back in the afternoon were
being locked down with abusers in their
homes and communities,"
Ms Mwansa said.
She stressed that the outbreak of COVID-19 proved
that there was still a lot that needs to be done to protect children from
defilement in an event of a pandemic and also how to quickly respond to
defilement cases.
"There
is need to strengthen our community response, especially on the issue of shelters
and safe spaces where would the children be taken to in an event there is need to
remove them from their homes,” she wondered.
Defilement has both physiological and psychological
effects on children which include distress, fear, shame, stigmatisation and
discrimination
Victims face additional challenges with the lack of
structural social service systems in place in Zambia, access to hotlines and
shelters. Also, civil society groups and nongovernment organisations specialised
in providing support and legal expertise are few.
