The 5 year old girl Anovuyo went missing on Sunday. 4 days later her chopped up and burnt body was found in a refuse bag. It happened across the road from where we were and we had a children’s march in 2013. The prime suspect was a neighbor. The witnesses said he was an ordinary looking men in his thirties. Upon arrest at his work, he demanded to be sent to the police station immediately fearing community members’ retaliation.
Community members requested us to help. We don’t get involved in the punishment process (due to the violent nature), but many women expressed their fear and wanted us to help them.
It was something that we must do. Without a plan or understanding the consequences, we decided go around the community and talked to men. We contacted the people who we knew and talked to anyone that we ran into. People were angry and suggested to go to the court on Monday to protest. Our aim wasn’t to fuel the anger, but to focus their attention to Anovuyo’s family and the community that was was deeply troubled. Slowly, people started to agree to join us. Some men told us that it was not only women are afraid of men, but also children were expressing their fears towards men candidly.
As we approached at the empty field near the house, we saw politicians and a couple of hundreds of people gathered to discuss the matter. They were taking turns sharing about the housing problems and other issues. Every time they came back to the issue of rape, they shouted, “We must kill him. We must kill him.”
Soon, one of our team members, Mthandazo, took a platform and started speaking boldly. By then, the crowd grew to a few hundreds of people. He said, “It is beautiful that we gathered here to discuss this urgent matter. However, we have 1,5 million victims each year and what is it worth if we only meet after someone was raped and killed? We have worked in the Nkanini area with the I’m Precious to Jesus Campaign to raise up good men…” People think the only solution to rape is mob justice but empowering good men such as themselves to prevent things from happening in the first place was a shocking and mind-altering proposition. When he finished his speech, there was a long silence in the crowd. As people gathered to get more information, we handed out the leaflets and soon the 500 bracelets we had were not enough.
At the end of the day, Mthandazo said, “Mr, Jung. It was an amazing day, but why is my heart is so heavy.” I answered him, “Mthandazo, it was a day which couldn’t have been any better. God has helped us and it was a great success. However, any success that came by what happened today, we know it came at a great cost – the young girl’s life. That is why our work is heavy. Just as the work of Christ, all the victories we have come from the blood and tears that were shed.”
May you have peace and comfort in His arms, Anovuyo. You are precious to Jesus.