Endurance

By Alemayehu Takele (ENA)

February 19(ENA)--

Here is a story of a teenage girl, who survived abduction two times. Her stamina had helped her achieve her aspiration in the face of so many difficulties and hardships.

"…What I want to tell you today to my sisters, never accept the marriage you don't want...Never loose hope to fulfill your dream and never accept the traditional belief that once abducted, your are 'damaged goods'. For me it is better to get killed than marrying my abductor." This was her message to a mass rally staged in her hometown 'Durame' two years ago.

Aberash Abako, now 19, endured poverty, loneliness and excommunication. The road for her dream to come true had been long and hard. She had attempted to commit suicide. She never thought she would be able to continue her high school education, leave alone to join college as she does now overcoming all of these problems.

She was born in "Hambu", a small village located about 370 kms south of Addis Ababa.

She persued her primary and secondary education at a School in Durame, Alaba-Timbaro --Kembatta Zone, South Ethiopia Peoples State.

Because there was no school nearby her village, Aberash had to travel up to 10 kms daily on foot to attend her class.

The distance she used to travel every day never bothered Aberash as she had a childhood ambition to fulfill. The ambition of becoming a teacher, and later to be able to support her mother, a widow who had brought her up along with her five brothers.

Aberash was devoting much of her time on her study while on weekends she supported her poor mother with household chores.

On one such weekend (in November 1999), some terrible things happened to her.

Aberash was abducted by a man along with a gang of youth while she was fetching water from a stream far from her home and took her to a hidden place, where she had been beaten and repeatedly raped till she become unconscious.

Terrified and angered by the cruelty committed against her, Aberash, who was only16 at the time, had attempted to escape from her abductor, who was 13 years older than she was. She also tried to commit suicide. "Unfortunately", both of her attempts had failed.

What Aberash couldn’t stand was suspending her schooling. She had no one to turn to.

"Even if I was able to escape, I knew I wouldn't manage to resume my education for the community would not welcome me due to the stigma. There was no other people or relative in other places whom I could count on. I had suffered neglect and mind numbing despair," Aberash said recalling the dreadful ordeal she had gone through during her three-week captivity.

She did not give up yet and was awaiting the right time to escape or kill herself.

But luck was on her side at last. The Kembatta Women Self-Help Center (Kembatti Mentti-Gezzimma), KMG, which fights all forms of abuse against women in Kembatta, had rescued Aberash by mobilizing local police and officials. She became free finally.

According to Bogalech, founder and Director of KMG, it was her organization that also persuaded Aberash's family and schoolmate to accept her back to her life.

"To me, personally, the first and most important miracle was the restitution of Aberash after being abducted. For the first time in the history of Kembatta, young woman had returned to same school from which she was stolen facing stigma and discrimination," said the director of KMG, which targeted abduction as one of the harmful practices for elimination.

Aberash returned to her village with joy and determination to resume schooling, which she did there and then.

However, her happiness did not last long. As she was living in a an area, where abduction is tolerated and an abducted girl is considered as a "damaged good", Aberash and her mother had suffered discrimination and alienation.

Once abducted, the future of any girl would only be with the man who kidnapped her, or face community rejection, according to Bogalech.

"Even your own parents and relatives are not willing to welcome you back home for fear of stigma and discrimination," says Aberash on her part.

She said her relatives, who were embarrassed and unhappy about her return, had attempted to kidnap and hand over to the man who abducted her."

"They (her relatives) would do everything they can to catch and turn you to your abductor especially after they are served with cattle beef and honey supplied by the family of the abductor," Aberash said.

"My relatives had one mid night tried to kidnap and return me to him (her abductor) while I was asleep with my mother. But the scream of my mother that attracts neighborhoods had enabled me to escape," she said.

Aberash was forced once again to quit her class for one week for fear of her relatives, who were chasing her to return her back to her abductor.

Finally, Aberash was able to breathe a sigh of relief when KMG had kept her in a house it rented in Durame town covering all of her housing and schooling costs. "Thanks to Bogalech and her organization, I managed to complete high school and join college," Aberash said.

She is now a second year student at Teachers Training College in Awassa town, 275 kms south of the capital.

It is still the KMG that covers all of her expenses. "Had not been for the KMG, I couldn't make it. Many girls who do not have the opportunity to get a safe haven like me, will turn themselves up to their abductors on their own will even after succeeding to escape," she said.

According to Aberash, last year, a teenage girl learning at Durame School escaped from her kidnapper and returned to her family. But she, who was a fifth grade student, handed over herself to her abductor at her own will after learning that her family and relatives were under preparation to return her to her kidnaper.

Though abduction is constitutionally outlawed, it is exercised in most of parts of Ethiopia as offenders are punished with low prison terms.

Abersh's abductor was sentenced to only a five-year jail terms and was released on parole after serving four years.

"My appeal against the lenient verdict passed on the abductor was turned down by the court. If abductors are sent behind bars for longer prison terms (up to 20-25 years), no one will dare to do it again, " Aberash said.

According to Aberahs, her kidnapper had even not properly served the four-year jail terms. "He was often seen to be out of prison and to plough for his family. How could a convicted criminal would enjoy the right of getting out of his prison cell and work for his family? For me, this is still mysterious."

Though there is no available data concerning abduction, local police indicate that they very often receive reports of abduction from the public in the zone, home to close one million people.

Educating the local community particularly elders is one-way out for the problem, Bogallech suggested.

According to Aberash, there is a little bit change in the attitude of the local people toward abduction after KMG has launched awareness-raising program four years ago. But it has to be strengthened and expanded, she added.

The victim said the society should be taught that tolerating abduction is equivalent to offering their daughters for evil as sacrifices. She said, they have to confront this harmful practice to help their fellow women from ruining their futurity.

"We (women)on our part have to emancipate ourselves from this evil practice, which is probably worse than death. Wake up women, we are not safe as long as abduction exists" Aberash said with her face showing her determination for eliminating abduction.

Thanks to the remarkable endurance she had shown through out her painful life, Aberash became the first girl in her village to be educated beyond the eighth grade after surviving abduction.

Her determination and sacrifices is a model of defying harmful tradition that her fellow girls need to follow.

(END)