Jumelo Sibeko, South Africa, “My smile was stolen”

This year, the theme of International Women’s Day was ‘Ending Impunity for violence against women’. Jumelo Sibeko from South Africa spoke to IRIN about her rape ordeal at 15, the trauma that followed and her dreams of an empowered future.

"At the age of 15 life denied me happiness. Life at home was difficult with my mother being beaten regularly. My sisters would start screaming whenever the man would start beating my mother.

“When the violence was going on I would run to the police station to report it but my mother would refuse to open the door for the police every time.

“It was around this time that he raped me; everything changed.

“My smile was stolen and it was difficult for me to concentrate in class. I could no longer continue with my education. I felt very hurt and angry.

“Women usually bottle up their feelings but I decided to express my anger through writing.

“I was still dealing with this when he shot my mother one day while I was sleeping. I found my mother lying in a pool of blood.

“To make matters worse, we were left with this man's eight-month old baby; my grandmother helped raise the baby.

“I have since gone back to school and I hope to release a movie depicting my youth; to express the violence and the feelings afterwards so that people have a better understanding of these issues."

aw/mw