One story from hundreds…

Monika is the youngest of three sisters. She was brought up in Songea, in the South of Tanzania. When she was 13 her parents divorced and her mother, Nuru, returned to live with her parents taking the three girls with her. Life was hard; the harvest was poor for two years in a row and the whole village suffered hunger. Monika and her sisters all had to leave school.

Nuru became friendly with a woman who had a market stall selling second hand clothes. This kind-seeming woman suggested that she could take the three girls under her wing and arrange for their schooling; they would return home for the school holidays. The matter was discussed by the family and agreed upon. The matter was discussed by the family and agreed upon. The two older girls were sent to Dar es  Salaam where, almost certainly, they were set to work as unpaid servants to a household. They have not been heard of since that day in 2003. Monika was sent to a wealthy man’s house near Moshi where she was obliged to work as a housemaid, and she was not enrolled into a school.

There were two sons in the household and before long both of them had sexually assaulted Monika. After the second attack she went to her mistress and reported what had happened. She was not believed and severely beaten for making false accusations.

Covered in bruises, Monika went to the police for protection. They did not - or would not - believe her story and told her to return to her mistress and apologise for her misdemeanours.

Distraught, Monika ran away on to the streets of Moshi where, destitute and friendless, she earned some money by selling herself for sex. She was picked up one evening by the police who took her to the Remand Home for children. Terrified by the situation she found herself in, her fellow inmates being almost all male teenagers, she begged a kind warder to take her to her own home at night where she would be safe. The warder took pity on her and bought her to Amani, where arrangements were made for the Home to pay a surety that she would not run away. 

Monika was cared for and counselled before testing for HIV which was mercifully negative. One of Amani’s Social Workers together with a Social Worker from the Remand Home took her back to Songea by bus where her mother was overjoyed to be reunited with her daughter after six anxious months, and the girl’s story was confirmed. The Remand Home authorities dropped all welfare proceedings and she was allowed to stay in her own home.

The Amani Social Welfare Worker spoke with the village headman to establish Nuru’s need for help and support. Amani is now paying Monika’s school expenses and a small sum to buy food for the family until better times come and they can manage themselves. Twice a year a Social Worker visits Monika and Nuru to ensure that all is well, while mother and daughter still hope and pray that one day the other two girls will return home. Sad to say the “kind” woman who had the market stall has never been traced.