FOR Mrs Babongile Mudau-Gora (39), supporting rape victims and sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors and providing them with essential services including empowerment skills is a calling.
She actually sacrificed her well-paying job as a social worker at an international non-governmental organisation to establish a centre for the economic empowerment of disabled men and women, rape victims and SGBV survivors.
Like the famous British nurse, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, Mrs Mudau-Gora used her savings to set up a shelter for SGBV survivors and rape victims, naming it Mudi wa Pfulufhelo (Home of Hope) Safe Haven in Beitbridge.
Mudi wa Pfulufhelo Safe Haven Centre, which was established in 2019, has assisted more than 200 women who survived SGBV since its inception. The centre offers psycho-social support, trauma counselling, and economic empowerment training in income-generating projects to abused men, women, and girls of all ages by bringing them into a place where they are far from their abusers.
During their stay at the shelter, the women and men will be given access to vocational training skills so that upon their release they are able to do various income-generating projects.
“I realised that organisations offering services for SGBV survivors were not offering a complete package hence I identified that gap in terms of service delivery,” said Mrs Mudau-Gora.
“At Mudi wa Pfulufhelo Safe Haven, we offer trauma counselling to victims and we keep them for a period of three to six months depending on their situation and individual needs. Ideally, we want them to get ample time to heal.”
Mrs Mudau-Gora said survivors of SGBV are offered technical skills through small income-generating projects and so far, they have 20 survivors of SGBV, some of whom are staying with their children.
Although Mudi wa Pfulufhelo offers temporary shelter to survivors of SGBV for a maximum of six months, it has brought a ray of hope to a number of victims, some of whom had nowhere to go.
Mrs Mudau-Gora, a qualified social worker, believes her work is a calling from God that was manifested to her through a dream.
The local community has since christened her “Mother Theresa” because of the good works that she is doing in the community.
“Mudi wa Pfulufhelo is a culmination of a dream, which I had in 2011. In fact, I strongly believe that when I had that dream to set up the centre, that in itself was clear testimony of a calling from God,” she said.
Mrs Mudau-Gora said by virtue of being a social worker by profession, she worked with several women and children who were subjected to sexual and gender-based violence.
“I then discovered that there was a huge gap in terms of service provision for SGBV survivors in Matabeleland South province. I sold the idea of setting up a centre to cater for such people to my husband and together we agreed to start the safe haven,” she said.
“Primarily, our aim is to ensure that the survivors are equipped with the essential skills so that upon leaving the centre they can be able to independently start their own income generating projects and sustain themselves financially.”
Mrs Mudau-Gora said during the first year of operations, more than 200 clients who had been referred by some NGOs and local hospitals, visited the centre for assistance.
She said about 95 percent of her clients are girls and women who would have either been raped or abused by known perpetrators.
“I remember my first client was a 16-year-old girl who was being abused and was now eight-month pregnant. At the time, the centre had not been fully registered, but because I could see the desperation in her and she had nowhere to go, I took her in,” said Mrs Mudau-Gora.
“The girl stayed with me at my house until our home fully registered.”
At the moment, Mudi wa Pfulufhelo Safe Haven is operating at a rented property.
Mrs Mudau-Gora employs four permanent workers and four interns who are helping her with counselling and looking after the victims at the centre.
However, she occasionally gets volunteers coming to the centre to offer free services.
With March being Women’s month, Mrs Mudau-Gora urged women to develop self-respect and report GBV cases.
“Most women who are being abused do not want to leave their abusive husbands. They would rather prefer going back to the places where they are being abused before they have completely healed and resolved the disputes,” she said.
“Some go as far as not reporting the cases and enduring the abuse. That is the biggest challenge that we have when in comes to fighting GBV.” – The Chronicle
