HIVAIDS and young girls, related to violence

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HIV/AIDS and young girls, related to violence

• Dafrosa Itemba
• Executive Coordinator
• (KIWAKKUKI)
• Women Against AIDS in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
• 16th January 2007, Oslo

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Women Against AIDS in Kilimanjaro alias Kikundi
cha Wanawake Kilimanjaro Kupambana na UKIMWI -
KIWAKKUKI ) exists because of the cause the women
decided to pursue 16 years ago, to empower gt
5,000 women and let them be exemplary in the war
against AIDS. There was and still there is a big
need to prevent the further spread of HIV and to
lobby and advocate for facilitative policies for
the access to human rights especially those of
the girl child.
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Issues

• The concept of Human Rights For All has been
  established and accepted by the United Nations as
  one of the Millennium Development Goals.
• Its true , many girls in Tanzania and Africa in
  general have fallen victims of the oppressive
  African traditions and culture and consequently
  have lacked capacity for self defence when
  harmed, or assaulted.

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Issues

• For the girl child, AIDS has either blocked or
  complicated their access to rights particularly
  regarding the right to education, good health
  and nutrition, shelter, recreation/play,
  protection from harm, inheritance of family
  property on bereavement , birth registration,
  psychosocial support and to be allowed to choose
  caretakers be they grandmothers or other
  relatives when they are orphaned.

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Issues

• What we are witnessing today in our community is
  increased stigma and discrimination brought by
  AIDS , increased risk of HIV transmission, loss
  of dignity, self esteem and identity for the girl
  child.
• Research shows HIV/AIDS prevalence being higher
  among girls than boys, and violence is higher
  towards girls than boys.
• Moreover, many cases go unreported and unattended
  by the so called safety nets.

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Methods used to gather violence cases byKIWAKKUKI

• Hold sessions with school children, collect and
  document their stories and try to improve their
  assertive action. These girls struggles are
  apparently with the conservative gate keepers, so
  its not an easy struggle.
• Conducting Straight Talk among school children to
  hear their struggles.

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Methods used to gather violence cases byKIWAKKUKI

• Conducting home visits to listen to girls and
  their caregivers/guardians.
• Village women holding demonstrations in protest
  of rape and other sexual offences which endanger
  the girls lives.
• Organising and International Child Development
  Programme (ICDP) to empower both the children (
  especially girls) to be able to improve
  communication with their caregivers and
  facilitate early report of violence activities.

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Methods byKIWAKKUKI contd..

• Hold meetings with girls and Vulnerable Children
  (OVC), listen to their experiences of abuse, and
  document and establish childrens clubs in order
  to improve their resilience against the
  difficulties that they face after bereavement
  both at home,at school and in the community.

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Childrens Recreational Club
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Girls discussing their experiences in group work
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MethodsKIWAKKUKI contd..

• Refer evidence based abuse cases to Legal AIDS
  Clinics for further management and provision of
  access to rights.
• Lobby through Community Service Organizations
  Coalition (Kilimanjaro Intermediary Gender
  Network) to expose these abuse cases and others,
  and to build networks in order to influence
  policies and outdated laws.

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Stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI

• Girls being raped and HIV-infected from the
  people they usually trust like their relatives,
  neighbours, family friends and step brothers
  (sometimes they already know their HIV-positive
  status)
• Girls being raped by community members in the
  bushes, under coffee or banana trees, in maize
  farms and also while cutting grass for cattle
  since this is a girl child job.

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Stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI contd

• Some girls report being sexually abused by their
  teachers. One case is still in court whereby the
  teacher is in police custody and the girl is
  attending school while already sick with AIDS.
  He used to call me to his office and ask me to
  lay under his office table and put his thing in
  here
• Girls falling victims of evacuation and blames
  put on their mothers by their in-laws after the
  death of the husband. Some girls end up sharing
  rooms with their mothers who in turn may end up
  in prostitution.

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Stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI contd

• In Kilimanjaro region as in many parts of
  Tanzania, Female Genital Mutilation is still
  rampant although illegal. Efforts of the civil
  society have been frustrated because the
  cicumcisorsin collaboration with parents
  especially mothers and grandmothers have started
  to mutilate baby girls and put them at risk of
  genital infections and HIV infection since some
  use the same knife for more than one baby!

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Stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI contd

• AIDS deaths have left behind several AIDS orphans
  and vulnerable children. Some girls become family
  heads between 14 and 18 years. The first thing
  is that they stop going to school to become bread
  winners. Many have reported cases of working as
  house maids and they end up sleeping with the
  fathers of the house and other boys in the house
  in fear of more violence and some have been
  infected.

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Stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI contd

• Some girl children have been sexually abused in
  order to meet the demands of the diviner priests
  who advise the HIV infected men to sleep with
  virgins and that they will be cleansed. This
  appears in newspapers and there is no way the
  girls remain safe from the virus.

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Map of Kilimanjaro
MAP OF KILIMANJARO SHOWING KIWAKKUKI GRASSROOTS
GROUPS 2006
POINTS PER
KEY 40grassroots Districts
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More stories Reported to KIWAKKUKI contd

• The silent violence is portrayed in many
  scenarios
• No administration of Post exposure prophylaxis,
• No follow up by relatives and law enforcers.
• Stigma attached to girls by caregivers, teachers,
  peers and community when sexually molested.
• Verbal abuse to girls when things go wrong or
  when they cant succumb to mens desires.
• Violence in the domestic sphere isnot handled
  as a serious crime but a private matter .

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This Family received a house built by KIWAKKUKI
and with some support from the community. The
deceased husbands brother demanded to take the
house away for his own and leave the mother with
only a mud house . Only through the intervention
of KIWAKKUKI was this catastrophe averted. The
girl child would have suffered more than the boys.
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Some of the cases handled in 2006

• Girls deserted 3 cases
• Rape/ Sexual abuse by HIV infected man, guardian
  5.
• Raped and infected by teacher - 1
• Property Confiscation - 3
• FGM cases for babies at birth 5
• Letter written to KIWAKKUKI informing on
  harassment by uncle after failed rape attempt - 1

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Implications for Programmes.

• There is a link between HIV and violence among
  girls which makes them highly vulnerable need
  for HIV/Violence Prevention programmes for girls.
• Explore possible economic and social safety nets
  to protect girls and reduce their dependence y
  and vulnerability.
• Need to increase girls empowerment on violence
  resistance skills.
• Transform grassroots women struggles for the
  survival of the girl child, into a United Nations
  Campaign where the home countries have failed to
  respond.

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Implications contd..

• Lets all solve a part of the puzzle around Human
  Rights as related to the girl child. Its not a
  womens issue but a global development issue!
  Lets give AIDS and girls a human face!

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All Nations unite to end violence against the
girl child. Thanks!

• Box 567
• Moshi, Tanzania
• 255-(0)-27-27-51504
• kiwakkuki_at_kilionline.com
• www.kiwakkuki.org