Victim of rape striving to make a difference
A sexual abuse victim is reaching out to teens about pregnancy.
Fikile Farrow, a victim of sexual abuse is transforming her pain into an initiative to educate teenagers about responsibility of having a baby by distributing dolls to them.
Fikile said, “All my happy childhood days came to a halt when I became a victim of sexual abuse. In an instant my childhood life was taken away from me. I was innocent and inexperienced and I had no idea whatsoever that my rights were being violated.”
“The perpetrator shamelessly abused this lack of knowledge I had as a child to continue his horrendous act. I struggled for years after to cope with the severe trauma, pain and suffering from the crime itself and the psychological effects.”
“It was only in my early 20s that I had the courage to seek for help and with counselling I gradually progressed on my path to healing. I am still mending my traumatised spirit but I have learned on my journey to restoration that I want to work with children and I want to empower them with my knowledge.”
“Today I realise as I look back on my childhood that the missing link in my childhood life was access to knowledge. Therefore I want to give learners at schools, dolls as part of the global awareness on teenage pregnancy. I want to campaign against teenage pregnancy by distributing dolls to learners in schools.” She will be targeting schools in Mohlakeng and expand the For Life project to other areas.
Fikile excitedly says, “Teenage pregnancy has to be addressed in our society. Young people are stuck in the destructive cycle of poverty having been raised in poverty and raising their children in poverty as well. A 100 000 young women under the age of 21 fell pregnant in South Africa in 2015. Without proper education, with no career and stable relationships most teenagers end up as single mothers depending on child support grant as little as R330.”
“Without enough support many young mothers are unable to study further because of the responsibility that comes with raising a child. This responsibility of raising a child is then put on the shoulders of grandparents. By giving dolls to the learners I hope they will feel the responsibility of having a child and wait for marriage, before having children.I hope the For Life project will motivate the youth to put their dreams as priority before engaging in pre-marital sex.”
If any organization, business or foundation can assist Fikile in collecting dolls, contact Maritza van Zyl at the Herald on 011 693 3671.
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