WHEN A FATHER DRAWS DAGGERS.......

Child molestation cases in Malindi-Kenya are rampant . The child protection centre receives up to 50 such cases in month .But due to victimization and compromise by the community  many cases never get to Court, instead they are solved traditionally which takes as little as a goat sacrifice to cleanse the perpetrator.

The pain and agony they endured at the time can only be told by Kadzo, the other two are too traumatized to speak about it. Sitting across me at the God our father rescue center-their new home- Kadzo now 17 tells the story of a father turning against his own flesh and blood.

As she narrates, the cycle of abuse began right after Pwagu, their father left prison in 2011. He had served 7 years at the Malindi GK prison for a series of sexual related crimes in their village of Ramada-70 Km from Malindi town.

One night as the three children slept in their little room, Kadzo was woken up by something jerking her legs apart. Before she could scream a massive hand covered her nose and mouth and after a sharp pain when through her private parts, did she realize what was happening. She only managed to get a glimpse of her father’s face when he was done. In pain and shock she cried herself to sleep.

The next day she told- but nobody believed her. Their grandparents, who lived in a nearby homestead, consoled but talked her into silence-she was not to tell anybody of the ordeal. Two weeks later it happened again, from then the abuse was regular, but this time she did not run to anyone, she decided to suffer in silence. Not long after that, Pwagu as if possessed by a demon, turned to his other three other children, molesting, 12 year old Moses, 8year old Maria and six year old Bernard in turns.

It was after Kadzo fell pregnant that the heinous crime came to light. A teacher at her school noticed her quickly growing tummy. After her pregnancy test confirmed that she was two months pregnant, Kadzo broke down and told the teacher all that had happened. Fearing for her safety, the teacher-took her to the local chief. The chief took up the matter with the child protection centre after the grandparents showed reluctance to proceed with the case.

Pwagu was eventually arrested after Medical results at the Malindi district hospital proved indeed the three children had been sexually abused by him. Matron Jane, who mans the gender desk –supported by APHIAplus at the district hospital,-took the three through trauma counseling during the trial of their father as they had to testify against him. With the help of the child protection centre and community, Pwagu got a twenty year sentence.

The children eventually put up at the God our father children’s’ home-a donor funded safe centre, because of the magnitude of rebuke and threats they received from relatives after their fathers sentencing.

“They said that I taught the younger ones to lie so that my father could go back to jail. When it was a matter we could have settled at home” Said a tearful Kadzo “they told us never to go back there again”

Today, the children are happy at their new found home. Kadzo is now a mother, Bernad is fine but Janet still gets anxiety attacks whenever she gets into compromising situations. Nelly, Their counselor at the facility says the children are adjusting well to their new home. They no longer have nightmares, stress or isolate themselves as when they first came. Kadzo now in class eight, she hopes to become a doctor a one day.

NOTE:

NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITIES