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"id": 252031,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Ndung'u",
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"speaker": {
"id": 361,
"legal_name": "Susanna Njoki Ndung'u",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. As I was saying, it is now time to put the 736 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2006 record straight. Sexual violence and rape are not about sex. They are about violence and power and that is why rape and sex crimes are internationally recognised as crimes against humanity. Rape is a tool that is used to humiliate, torture and conquer. It is a crime that knows no class, tribe, gender, religion or affiliation. It is an extremely painful experience and it is intended to have far-reaching effects not only to the victim, but also to his or her family and community as a whole. In Rwanda, it was extended to one's ethnicity and nationality. Mr. Speaker, Sir, most of us have experienced some kind of criminal attack. We have either been mugged, pick-pocketed or robbed. We have more than often complained about the loss of money, an Identity Card (ID) or a passport. As years go by, we tend to forget because we can get back the items or money that were stolen from us. However, this is not the case with sexual violence because one feels physically and integrally violated. One is robbed of something that one can never get back. It is an indelible mark left on your private person, in fact, the most private part of you. It affects your family too. It is true that rape and sexual violence have destroyed marriages. Sexual violence also has a very big impact on economic and education prospects of many citizens. Today, many girls and women cannot go to nice schools. They also cannot stay late at work. Can you imagine the impact of this on our economy and education system over, say, the last ten years? What about the future? Mr. Speaker, Sir, what about the medical costs? According to Dr. Thenya of the Nairobi Women's Hospital, it is estimated that it costs Kshs15,000 to treat one rape victim. The many cases they have treated cost between Kshs4,000 and Kshs600,000. If the statistics by the Steadman Group are anything to go by, over 1,000 Kenyans are sexually assaulted everyday, and if we were we to imagine that all those victims go for medical treatment, we shall be talking about billions of shillings being spent in terms of health and medical treatment. Sometimes the problem we are addressing today seems to be very far away. The media has done a great deal in bringing out the extent of this scourge in this country. The women organisations such as FIDA, CREW, CRADLE, COVAW and so on have also done a great job. We all listen to them. We watch our television sets and read news and feel that sexual violence is terrible. We feel angry when we see young boys and girls being sexually assaulted, but we never think that this can happen to a member of our family. We wake up in the morning, go to work and carry on. But what about them? What happens to them? Mr. Speaker, Sir, two years ago, the Members of the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KWPA) visited the Nairobi Women's Hospital to see two young girls who had been raped; a four-year old and a nine-year old. It was part of our public duty to go and visit these young victims and their families. We wanted to empathise and support them. Nothing could have repelled us than what we found there. In my whole life, I have never been confronted with the horror of the physical damage done to those children. I realised that these young girls were so destroyed that they will never experience the joy of motherhood or have a normal reproductive life as adults because their organs had been stitched, re-stitched, moved and joined to the extent that you could not tell which part was what. On top of that, these girls, like other rape victims, were exposed to so many other things such as infection of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, syphilis and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STIs). They were too young to get pregnant although many rape victims suffer from that consequence too. These are children who need counselling and their families need to go through therapy. One cannot even begin to imagine the psychological trauma that they will have to go through the rest of their lives. If I was traumatised myself, what about them? Since that day, I have visited the Nairobi Women's Hospital frequently to discuss with Dr. Thenya, the Chief Administrator, about how we can help the hospital to provide better services to such victims. However, I have never gone back to the ward. I am willing to go back to the hospital, but I am unwilling to go back to the ward. April 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 737 I am willing to go back to the hospitals but I will never absorb or understand what kind of beasts do this to these children. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Nairobi Women Hospital is providing a wonderful service and it receives about 15 to 20 cases a day. It is only one hospital among over 70 hospitals in Nairobi. So, you just need to do the mathematics yourself. This is just in Nairobi; we are not even talking about the rest of the country. At the Nairobi Women Hospital, I have talked to many survivors and their counsellors. The survivors come from all walks of life. They are housegirls, factory workers, students, office clerks, housewives and professional women. I have also met male survivors of rape. These are men who have been carjacked or were just walking home from work. There are men who have been raped in cinema hall toilets and shopping mall toilets. These are what we consider safe areas. So, who is really safe?"
}