Anna (name changed) is a thirteen year old girl studying in a school. The region she lives in is going through a civil war and upheaval that has affected the lives of most of the population. The children are a witness to torture and abuse, being killed and maimed but most poignantly staying silent about it in order to keep themselves safe from further atrocities and persecution. Many children have lost their father early due to the war and live alone with their mothers.
Every day would bring in loss of some kind for the children and their families. They had known no other life other than one where perpetrators decide what to do with the victim followed by deathly silence in the population.
It was a day just like any other when Anna was returning to her home. It had become dark and the road back to her home was usually crowded but today it was deserted. She had wondered briefly about it but then stopped thinking. She had seen stranger things and this hardly crossed her mind.
As she came along a small curve she was accosted by six security personnel who blocked her way. Surprised she wanted to walk past them but they demanded her papers. She told them that she is a school girl and does not have any papers but they did not believe her. They told her that curfew has been declared and since she is walking alone she must be a courier for the enemy. Surprised she wondered what it meant. When they started hitting her asking her to confess that she is courier for the enemy and is carrying a message for them that she became terrified and started to freeze.
She lost consciousness after being hit a few times. When she regained consciousness she realized the men were raping her. She remembers six men raping her one after another and then leaving her on the side of the street.
She lay there for the night and in the morning was found by a few people from her village who came looking for her.
Anna was brought back to the village, to her mother who was devastated by the trauma inflicted on her daughter. Meanwhile the security forces came to her village saying that she was a courier for a gang and they needed to interrogate her.
She was treated by a doctor from her village who found her body brutalized and injuries that would take a long time to heal. There was no way she could be taken to a big hospital as that would jeopardize her safety.
It was then that she went into hiding. Her family and neighbors told the police that she has not come back. They told her to keep quiet about it and never mention the issue to anyone.
Anna stayed hidden and became mute. She never talked about the incident and became quiet.
While doing a workshop in her area for children, the caretakers mentioned to Swanchetan about Anna who needed professional help to overcome her trauma of rape.
In a series of sessions Anna opened up to talk about her trauma of rape to the psychologist and shared the devastation caused to her life. Slowly at the insistence of the psychologist she began to pen down her story and find courage in doing her daily chores again. She also sent a letter to the authorities about the perpetrators who had committed this act. She received no reply.
Anna was harassed, humiliated at every step of her life once her story became known. She decided not to commit suicide so she kept herself alive despite provocation to kill herself.
Anna finally got a chance to go out with a human rights worker. She decided to not come back and start her life again in a different country. She was fifteen then, two years after this gruesome incident.
Anna kept on sending us the message of how she was slowly improving. She does have nightmares at times but they are controllable and she has developed a few friends who do not know of her past. Her perpetrators could never be punished due to the impunity granted to security personnel.
Anna is finding her healing in forgiveness and resilience provided by the spiritual mentor.
We reproduce a drawing made by her depicting her healing and support by her mother.
Swanchetan staff