One of Pastor Taiwo’s articles in Nigerian newspapers
ALL HANDS ON DECK - AGAINST RAPE!
I was woken up on Monday morning around 6am when a text message came in. It was from a lady to say “I was raped last night and I don’t know what to do.” I became fully awake immediately and called her.
Later that day, CNN reported a man who had kidnapped and been sexually abusing his daughter for 24 looong years. She has seven children for him. Lord, have mercy!
Meanwhile, the previous day, (Sunday April 27) I heard on a TV program about a male lesson teacher who had been raping some very young girls and would afterwards, wipe them with a white handkerchief, for ritual purposes.
Just the day before then, (Saturday April 26) someone introduced a young girl to me. Her mother had conceived and given birth to her at the age of 15, after having been regularly raped for about six years by her own father. The wicked father tried to abort the pregnancy to cover up his shameful act but somehow couldn’t, and his daughter gave birth to the girl I met on Saturday. Of course, the years of sexual abuse in the hands of her father which began shortly after her mother died, and the pregnancy affected her education and her mind. As the lady in Tears on my pillow said (one of my novels), the man who raped her, raped not only her body but her soul too.
Yet on Wednesday, (April 23) I received a phone call from a Pastor. Someone close to him was raped on Tuesday night at about 8pm by three men, around the toll gate in Lagos, on her way from work. The 26 year old lady who until then was a virgin was almost killed. She was brutally wounded with bruises all over her body. In fact, people were running away from her and bus drivers did not want to pick her when she was going home much later. (Again, Lord have mecy!)
I hear during my counseling sessions with people and read in papers about rape almost every week and I’m always like – oh my God! What is the world turning to?
Yet, many parents are still ignorant of it, ignorant of who a rapist is and how to prevent rape. This is a wake-up call to all! Because rape happens a lot and is destructive, I have mentioned it in two of my novels- Tears on my pillow and Love on the pulpit. Now I have written a book titled Rape & how to handle it which has been translated into Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa to enlighten everyone. In the book, I have talked about – who a rapist is, the age range of a rapist, how rape can be prevented, why do men rape women, what’s dress got to do with it etc.
Rape occurs a lot on the streets but much more at home with about 70% rate of occurrence but many women and parents have not realized this. For many women, their thoughts are – oh, he is my husband or he is my boyfriend or my brother or my nephew. And so, they leave their female wards carelessly in the person’s care. There was the case of a man who was reaching over his sleeping wife in the night to fondle his wife’s young sister. I also heard about a man who raped his three daughters! Unbelievable! We need to be careful.
I also want us all, women especially, to rise up and cry against this vice that is very destructive, leaving the victims with physical wounds and emotional bruises and hurt which run deep. Many feel disoriented. Others live in fear and torment, while some feel like committing suicide.
Let us save our children and women. Say No to Rape and violence against women – thereby making our society a better place to live in.
Pastor Taiwo Odubiyi
Tender Hearts Family Support Initiativ
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