Taking a holistic and community centric view of supporting abuse survivors: Part 2 of an interview with Hellen Tanyinga

In my discussion with Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF) Executive Director Hellen Tanyinga, I was fascinated by the breadth of programming (rapehurts.org). RHF is taking a holistic view of helping abused women. They refuse to limit their approach to dealing with the immediate needs of the individual woman or child who has been violated. This foundation is going after prevention methods. They are tackling problems of education and awareness. They are lobbying parliament to ensure that the laws that are on the books are being carried out. In addition, they are teaching women “how to fish” both literally and figuratively through apprenticeships and training programs. RHF is empowering women by providing them with a sustainable entrepreneurial mindset that not only changes their lives but can also lead to a generational change.

If you would like to support them, please go to rapehurts.org and make a donation.

This is Part 2 of my interview with Ms. Hellen Tanyinga. For Part 1 click here.

Can you please talk about the RHF community and educational initiatives?

Ladies who are survivors or at risk of being a victim of GBV [and] FGM (female genital mutilation) cannot afford to take their kids at school because they marry at an early age. They never attend education [and] they don't have any skills. What we've done as RH foundation in partnership with different schools [is that] we send these kids to school and contribute towards their stationary (supplies) and school fees. 

We have a community school. The children in the nearby villages and those from very far can come in. We provide them with a boarding section [including] food, school fees and everything [they need]. 

We also have a children's center where we have 37 orphans. We provide them with support. Normally these kids are brought in by the police because they don't have anywhere to go. And most of the care sitters (takers) are overloaded. RHF is a rescue scenario [for] a child with no options.

We go to schools because we [think that] the only way we end GBV in all those forms that violate the rights of women, is by starting at the tender age. We do community sensitization [by] going to primary schools. We go to [primary]schools talking about what we should do to end GBV and TPE and violation of women. 

Churches are calling us to talk to the children. Community leaders are calling us. We do provide maternal care sometimes where we get the funding.

We educate women on family planning. 

RHF also provides safe houses?

 We have safe houses for women that have been GBV victims or are TP (Trafficked in Person) running away from their perpetrators, who can spend at least a month to three months, depending on the need. We provide emergency [shelter] to them so that they can be able to get away as they will look for better places where they are safe. 

We've also [begun] construction of a hospital for women and children with emergency cases.

Tell us about your government lobbying efforts.

We lobby with the parliament to ensure that certain projects (protections) are enforced, especially women's rights in Uganda. The laws are there, but no one is spreading [the information] so that the women know their rights. So we are looking to the government to spread to the [word to] communities around Uganda so that everyone should know their rights, know where to go, and [how to] people get the proper education.

Why is RHF focused on the environment and sustainable food supply?

We need something that is completely safe for women as we are teaching them better farming methods. We talk about the environment because it doesn't make sense that as you're telling women to do farming, you're not giving them the ideas [on] how they could sustain it . You need to tell them about better environmental protection policies that can help them, which can help the community and save the environment. 

What does RHF want to achieve in the future? 

We want [to create] a self-reliant institution that can respond to emergencies of GBV, TP ( trafficking in person). As I speak, we have a list of women that need hospital [care], need prenatal care because they were raped. Women do not want to speak about it, but they need help. We have children that are HIV that are not getting proper medication and proper nutrition. Because we cannot stretch far, you find that some of these ladies are being cut off. You choose those emergent cases and we leave out some. So our hope and our goal are that we are able to cover as many people as we can. 

We [want an] operational hospital that works on those women 24 hours, which is self-contained— like it's one-stop center. We [would] have a police station there that can work on the victims of rape, we have a surgeon[and] we have a safe house in that same place. We have proper care, a good ambiance for these people so that when they come out of that trauma and they reach this hospital, they get all that they need. This is our dream as RH foundation.

We want to see that at least by 2020, 70% of women in eastern Uganda are able to know their rights. [That children] are able to attain education, especially the girl child, without dropping out of school [to work].

What is the biggest challenge for RHF?

We lack fund raising capacity because we are still so young. I feel we've been there for so long but the exposure has been so low. So you find that we have that problem of funding. So we find that most of our projects [are] self-supported and we are strained to the maximum. 

What one thing would you like for victims of abuse or assault to know?

One thing they should know is that they should speak out. Because if you do not speak out, you will die in pain every time you feel like you're a victim.

What one thing would you encourage victims of abuse or assault to do? 

I would encourage all victims of assault to always know that they are never alone. Share your problems and stand up. Stand up. Like, don't let yourself fall. 

Please name one thing that Ugandan society should do to stop assault and abuse.

Speed up justice for these people that have been abused, because one thing these perpetrators depend on is that they know no one is [handling] those cases.

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The Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF) is a non-profit, non-government organization working with marginalized groups of people, especially rural women and children in Uganda. The RHF was established in 2008 as a community-based organization and later registered as an NGO. The RHF operates in the rural Jinja & Kamuli of Eastern Uganda focusing on Health & Care and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Girls and Women.

RHF is a member of several networks including the National Association of Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU), Jinja and Kamuli District NGO forums, National NGO Forum and the Human Rights Network Uganda (HURINET-U). A key goal of RHF is to partner with organizations and individuals with complementary missions.