KISUMU, Kenya, Jan, 26- Janet Akello (not her real name) is still struggling to come to terms with the horrific ordeal she faced at the hands of a person she had trusted with her security.
For several days between the months of June and September last year, the 15-year old teenager was repeatedly defiled by her biological father.
What had been a simple visit to her father at Kipswamwe in Kericho to collect foodstuffs after his father separated from his mother turned into sexual abuse against the minor. She did not know what to do and had to contend with the abuse.
And despite reporting the matter to adults she had hoped would help her, her quest for justice hit a dead end, and was compelled to continue staying with her abusive father.
The victim, identified by initials JO, painfully recalled how her father forced her to undress before defiling her.
And despite reporting the matter to her stepmother, nothing happened and the minor had to continue contending with the abuse.
Last month, her father was found guilty of defiling and impregnating her by Tamu Magistrate’s court and was slapped with life imprisonment by Tamu law courts.
For the victim, however, the wounds are still fresh.
For several days, the teenager was compelled to share the same roof with her attacker. Her stepmother who had also brushed her off could also not protect her.
The victim endured the pain until a well-wisher rescued her and took her to a private rescue center in Kisumu. The well-wisher started the center in a bid to help victims of GBV.
But she is not alone, investigations by Shahidi News have established that several victims of GBV have been forced to spend nights with their attackers over the lack of safe houses.
The situation has been made worse by the failure of the kisumu county government to construct a safe house for GBV victims.
Several attempts to establish a safe house have all hit dead ends even after millions of taxpayer’s money was spent in futile attempts to construct them.
The last attempt was in 2016 when some Sh4.5 million was invested to set up a safe house for GBV victims at Tieng’re in Kisumu but the project stalled. It was meant to serve Kisumu West and Seme Sub-Counties.
The county government allocated some Sh10 million for the project but it was abandoned.
Efforts to establish other safe houses in Nyando are also yet to materialize with residents now saying that the lack of safe houses is a major hindrance in the quest to help GBV victims recover.
At the GBV center at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) about ten cases of GBV are reported on a daily basis with the victims forced to go back to their attackers over lack of a safe house.
At Manyatta slums, a mother of three who has been grappling with epilepsy is yet to come to terms with the terror her husband meted on her daughter.
The father reportedly took advantage of her medical condition to defile their eight-year-old daughter. The incident happened several times with the mother forced to keep the happenings a secret.
It took the intervention of human rights activists to rescue the mother and her daughter from the rogue father.
Interviews with several victims, activists, and children’s rights officials established that the lack of a safe house has made it difficult for victims of GBV to recover.
Kisumu County has no government-supported safe houses except for 31 orphanages that are privately owned which at times act as rescue centers.
Statistics seen by Shahidi News indicate that 10,000 cases of GBV cases have been reported in Kisumu since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Out of the cases, about 40 percent are sexually related. A majority of the sexual cases end up in pregnancy with statistics at the JOOTRH GBV rescue center indicating that the victims make up about 70 percent of those who take up slots in the maternity section.
At Obunga slums, Janet Apiyo (not her real name) looks frail and detached from things taking place around her.
She is only seven years but the pain she has endured is immense for her age. Several times she was defiled by their neighbor.
Although the suspect was already charged in court, he was released on bond with the family claiming that the sight of the suspect in the neighborhood has made the girl more withdrawn.
A number of activists told Shahidi News that delays in the legal system have only worsened the situation for the GBV victims.
Caren Omanga, an activist said that the delays in filling P3 forms delay the collection of evidence.
Her concerns were also echoed by Easter Achieng, the Executive Director and Programs Coordinator of Kenya Female Advisory Organisation (KEFEADO) who says that the closure of some of the orphanages during the Covid-19 period worsened the situation for victims of GBV.
“The government should put up at least one rescue center in all the seven Sub-counties to help GBV victims on their path to recovery,” said Achieng during an interview with Shahidi News.
According to activists, cultural beliefs as well as the need by some people to protect the reputation of their families forces them to contend with abuse.
The county government however has remained tight-lipped on the fate of safe houses in a county that records several cases of GBV cases.
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