[WARNING GRAPHIC DETAILS] – Ermelo teen speaks up after sexual harassment

ERMELO – At age 13, a young girl had her innocence taken away from her after she experienced her first sexual harassment incident by a family member.

Two years later she had another case at a high school in Ermelo.

Nonjabulo* (16) lived with her uncle, aunt, and cousins growing up.

When she was taught about gender-based violence at school, she immediately knew that what had happened with her uncle was not just something that did not feel right.

“My uncle is a man who enjoys joking around and he used to attend choir practice at church. He was the last person I thought would do something like this,” she said.

Nonjabulo vividly remembers everything.

She said it happened on a Saturday afternoon after her aunt had received an urgent call and had to leave the house.

Nonjabulo watched TV while waiting for her aunt to return.

The hours passed by, but there was no sign of her aunt, day soon turned to night.

Blissfully unaware a living nightmare for the young girl was about to unfold.

“My two cousins and I had fallen asleep on the couches in the living room.

The next thing I remember was being woken up by the touch of his hands.

They moved around my chest and I did not know whether this was really happening or if it was just a dream.

“I opened my eyes and looked him straight in the face. The room was dark, but the light of the moon that shone in was more than enough light for us to see each other’s faces.

“He said ‘hush’, removed his hands from my chest, pulled my shirt down and walked away,” she said.

She added that it was the most disgusting moment of her life.

And that was the very same moment that her innocence was taken from her.

Nonjabulo does not hate her uncle and has since forgiven him in her heart, however, does not want him anywhere near her.

Two years down the road she found herself in a similar situation with a boy in her class. 

* Not her real name.

Read about her school experience in the Highvelder newspaper.