Tour of hope for victims of sexual abuse

The project’s title, 90 Days, 90 Towns, 90 Gigs, is fairly self-explanatory in terms of what will be required from Chapman, but her tour will be the relatively glamorous face of a campaign called Kwanele! Enuf-is-Enuf, fronted by activist Andy Kawa.

“Andy is the chairman of Interwaste Holdings and Chuma Holdings; she’s been a successful businesswoman for many years,” says Chapman.

“Two and a half years ago she went to visit her mom in Port Elizabeth and she was walking along the promenade, grabbed, held for 24 hours and gang-raped by five men. She came out of that realising that the experience had nothing to do with economics, even though it’s still one of those things that many folks think happen to ‘other people’.

“She doesn’t like to call herself either a ‘survivor’ or a ‘victim’. Instead, she’s decided to dedicate the next ten years of her life to helping victims of violent crime, with a focus on rape and sexual violence. So the ‘enough’ part of the name of her organisation has to do with the violence, but she’s also saying that there’s been enough silence, enough apathy, enough tolerance and enough fear. That’s what appealed to me about this NGO when I first heard about it.”

It’s a different approach to other high-profile activism – around the subject of rhino poaching for example. In that case, a man with a gun may be part of the solution. Here, the focus is on being brave and getting involved, with the witnesses of sexual violence or those who are aware it’s happening somewhere as much a focus as the victims themselves.

However important the cause, though, many will have reservations about a musician as an activist, as everyone from Bob Geldof to the garage band down the road has marketed their work as having a charitable outcome at some point.

“I had an epiphany a few days after I heard about the NGO,” says Chapman.

“I’ve always wanted to do a fairly long, intensive tour – not for 90 days; that is quite extreme – and I woke up one day after having a terrible migraine and just felt that I had to work with Kwanele on this. When I was in the film industry, I put a lot of energy into a project dealing with domestic violence and the breakdown of the family unit, but I didn’t receive the funding I needed and it broke my heart. And the apathy around these issues really bothers me.

“The objective of this tour is not to raise millions – it’s going to cost us to do this, as we’ll have three cars going everywhere. What we want to do, is mobilise people, which has already started. Some of the venue owners and members of their communities have come forward and said ‘I was raped’, and a conversation has begun. That’s what it’s all about.”

Going to 90 towns will guarantee landing up in some backwoods location where there is otherwise no forum to talk about issues like this.

“We’ll play wherever we can,” says Chapman.

“This format creates opportunities. We’ve had, for instance, the headmaster at a school in Vryburg ask us to come and visit, and this is way before the time, as I’m only leaving at the end of January. I have various ‘captains’ in different areas to help me find the places that need our input the most. I’ve looked at the crime stats and I’ve tried to find where the numbers are the worst. I want to go there.”

Chapman’s music is a useful audience attraction, but it’s not the only facet of the 90 Days, 90 Towns, 90 Gigs idea.

“Andy will be travelling ahead of me and give talks during the daytime,” the singer says.

“In my gigs, I’ll be mentioning the themes of the campaign, which will be well publicised, but it’ll be mostly about the music. I’m aware that there’s a fine line between promoting yourself and making a difference. I’ll be working hard. I can’t take on every issue, but I can get involved here.”