Sweetening Justice to Vulnerable Women, Children and People Living with HIV

During the post election violece m ore than 150 women and children in Kibera were sexually abused during the post election violence in Kenya.

CARE Kenya prepared 40 women were by to testify before the Commission Investigating into the Post Election Violence (CIPEV) chaired by judge Waki. CARE Kenya through the community based comprehensive response to sexual gender based violence project surnamed Sweetening Justice to Vulnerable women,. Children and PLWHIV, was able to respond to the needs of the survivors by ensuring provision of psychosocial, legal and medical support services. The response strategy has assisted over 300 women to seek justice while helping them recover from the trauma and reorganize their lives.

Mary* is one of the victims of the Post Election Violence who has been assisted by the project, she lives in Kibera and she narrates her story.

" The chaos began on 30th Dec, 2007 along the main road. I was with two children. My older son who is 25 years old went to his friend’s house. At 9pm, we heard a group of young men approaching the house. We locked the gate but because they were many, they forcibly broke down the gate. They said they were doing so because the tenant was a kikuyu and the landlord was also a bad man. They found me in my one roomed house and told me that they intended to finish the work that the Kibaki government had started. I was raped in turns by two young men and since I suffer from high blood pressure, I lost consciousness. I was vaguely aware of being raped by a third man, while the others were looting my house. A second group of young men stopped by and asked the first lot why they had raped me instead of just stealing the goods. After they left, some of my neighbors carried me out of my house and laid me behind the house where they gave me first aid. They took me to the chief’s camp and later to the police where a GK vehicle took me to Nairobi Women’s Hospital. They did a number of tests and after my blood pressure went down, I was given medical treatment at the hospital. I reported the matter to Kilimani Police station but have never received any assistance. I have made repeated visits to the police station to follow up on my case. The police tell me to forget about the post violence issues, yet the perpetrators are well known. I have gone to the DO’s office several times but have not been helped. My relative came and took me to Mathare North until last April. I returned to Kibera a month later but have been unable to pay my rent. However, I have managed to raise some money from friends and relatives and relocated to a different village. CARE Kenya has helped me cope with the trauma and hardship of displacement by providing me with counseling, referred me to Women for Justice lawyers who have taken up the case. In addition I have received food donations, clothes, jericans and school uniform from CBOs working with CARE Kenya. I also hope to get some capital , so that I restart my businesses which were burnt into ashes during the violence. Having lived an independent life earlier and now am reduced to a beggar, makes me feel like committing suicide but I get encouraged when people talk to me and give me a reason to live positively. I have also joined a savings and loans group where I save kshs. 200 per month, which I can barely afford, so I opt to fore go some meals with the hope of borrowing a loan that will help me set up a vegetable kiosk"

_{^{** Names have been changed.}}

Sweetening Justice to Vulnerable Women, Children and People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) is a CARE Kenya project whose aim is to s trengthen the community based mechanisms in the protection and promotion of the rights of vulnerable women, children and People Living With HIV (PLWHIV).

The activities of the project include:-

• Identify rights violation and legal support needs for vulnerable groups
• Build Capacity of CSOs to provide legal support to target beneficiaries
• Sensitize formal and informal community leaders and enable them to effectively to address rights violations in their communities
• Develop structures for reporting, review and referral of rights violations.