Since we launched our campaign in Soweto, members and visitors looking for counselling have contacted us.
We understand how difficult it must be for any person, still suffering from the emotional consequences of abuse, to speak out or trust someone else with such intimate personal details.
On the other hand, if the person is not prepared to confront this ghost from the past, she will not find healing. The memory that haunts will always be hidden inside her thoughts, bringing insecurities, complexes and fears which push her to make the wrong decisions.
Perhaps she feels he will never find someone else to marry and start a family with, so he needs to settle for a relationship, which diminishes her. Maybe he feels his dignity was taken away from him so now it is better to live a perverted life, to fall into prostitution or be abusive to others.
The cycle goes on and on in our society until the day many decide to take their own lives.
I usually compare such cases with that of a child who falls and hurts his knee. The first step is to clean the wound with a strong antiseptic that will disinfect the skin of bacteria, but in the process, the wound will bleed and cause pain all over again.
By speaking out you will be applying God’s antiseptic to your wound. You will feel the pain, the shame, the hate, the revulsion, but you will gain strength and find healing.
Shutting yourself off from this world, and from the reality that abuse happened to you, is certainly not a solution. Your pain will only harm / rot your inner self.
Marcia Pires
WiA members offer counselling and prayers to victims of abuse every Wednesday, at 4 pm, at the Cathedral of Faith at Park Station.
1 comment:
Speaking to someone about your problems really is a good way of dealing with them. I have come across many people who have kept quiet about being raped and in turn end up harbouring bad feelings. I would encourage those who have been victims of rape to speak to someone that they trust.
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