JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – The Southern COURIER spoke to an 18-year-old woman from the South, who ran away from home when she was 15 year’s old and asked her: “Why did you do it?”
“I was introduced to a guy by a friend at school and he asked me to run away with him, my friend and a couple of other guys,” she said.
”I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it and when they told me today was the day we were going to leave, I felt very unsure about what I was going to do.“In the end I said I’d go with them and we went to a local park and sat and smoked and joked around. It didn’t seem very serious, and I wasn’t really worried about the consequences at this time.
”We were deciding where to go next.”
Meanwhile, the girl’s parents were already out looking for her.
What transpired after this became a nightmare which still haunts the young woman.
The group of so-called friends hitchhiked during the night and slept for parts of the days, as they managed to get lifts to Durban.
“A truck driver took us the last part of the way,” the teenager said.
They arrived in Amanzimtoti on the South Coast and, as they were walking around, they were stopped by a SAPS officer.
“We were asked where we were going and we told the policeman we were on our way to one of the boys’ grandmas,” she added.
”Of course it was a lie, the first of many. For three nights we slept in bushes near to the beach front and every day we drank wine and smoked weed. It seemed so cool.”
After a few days the group moved into an empty house and the girl was more or less forced into having a tattoo done.
“It was scratched into my skin and rinsed off with water to get rid of the blood. One of the boy’s became rough with me and I was scared,” she said.
”I was forced to go out and ask for money so we could eat. I hated it. I’d never had to do anything like this before.
”Against my will I was forced to do horrid things and I still have nightmares about this today.”
Her parents couldn’t eat nor sleep.
“I used to ride around the streets of the South looking for my child; I even looked in sluices and drains in case she had fallen and hurt herself,” her mother said.
“I was becoming more and more afraid and knew I had to get out of the situation, but didn’t know how without money; all I wanted to do was go home and be with my family,” the daughter recalled.
What transpired: Two weeks later someone became suspicious of the group of youngsters and contacted the police.
They were taken to a local police station and the girl’s parents were informed that she was alive. They and a member of the CPF flew down to Durban and met her at the police station.
“I just sobbed when my mom and dad walked through the door; I couldn’t believe I was seeing them again and I was safe,” she said.
Her parents said: “We are just so grateful we got her back alive. Physically she was damaged and traumatised. She underwent counselling and even though we knew she had to go back to school we didn’t want her to mix with any of the ‘old’ friends, so we chose another school for her.”
The young woman said: “I felt like I didn’t fit in and didn’t want to be there, so I left.”
Her mom said:” To this day our daughter is traumatised about what she did and what happened to her. She still won’t go out on her own, has nightmares and no confidence. She feels guilty about what she put us through.
“Don’t do it. Don’t run away from your family, even if things seem bad. Talk to them, tell them how you feel and don’t trust people who tell you to run away with them. Please don’t do it.”
*The young woman and her family wish to remain anonymous.
