30 Jan 2019

When a traumatic experience like rape happens to a woman, it leaves her feeling worthless. 

A rape survivor, 22-year-old Ms One Keakile says others who went through the same experience should not carry those thoughts alone as humans are social for a reason.

“I am working on an online campaign that shares my experience and how I overcame it,” Ms Keakile revealed to BOPA.

She said the aim of the campaign is to help other survivors, to know that it is ok to be a survivor; that surviving is an individual taking back control of their life and living it the way they are supposed to.

Ms Keakile said one morning in February last year, as she was making her way to work, she got attacked by a man in a passage just by her house.  

“The man dropped me to the floor and demanded my belongings; I told him to search and take whatever he found and he did just that,” she sighed. 

He then made her aware that he was going to rape her and threatened to stab her if she was to make a noise. 

Ms Keakile said she obeyed every command she was given until the man finished and disappeared. She then alerted her family and Mogoditshane police about what had happened and they tried to track down the suspect, but to no avail.

The police assisted her and she was also taken to the clinic to take necessary precautions on getting infected with STIs and  pregnancy. Ms Keakile said this experience left her torn, but she chose to find ways of coping and healing from the pain that she had endured. “It’s a common factor that victims die a painful slow death from inside out and all I want to do is help other sisters like me take their lives back through sharing my experience,” she highlighted.

She said she believes surviving is a victim being an example that restoration is possible, adding ‘God truly is alive and heals the hearts of those who seek him’.

She said this is a painful journey and the experience is one that will always be a part of a victim’s life, however, the right mindset and acceptance of what happened makes it all a lot better to bear. ENDS