A 55-year-old woman was abducted and gang raped by 15 men. This happened in the town that President Bio and Idris Elba call home in Sierra Leone
A 55-year-old mother of three was abducted by a group of men belonging to the powerful all-male Poro Society whose members include presidents, parliamentarians, and paramount chiefs. Ms. Y. Gberie was raped by 15-20 men in Motuo Village, Kpanda Kemo Chiefdom in Bonthe District, Sherbro Island, Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Poro Society men attacked her house where she lives with her sister Paramount Chief Melrose Foster Gberie. Bonthe District is the hometown of the President of Sierra Leone and the same place that Idris Elba wants to make investments. There the Poro Society is so powerful that when they come out for initiations as they did on the night of 11 January everyone hides including the Police.
I went to Aberdeen Women’s Centre this morning to interview one of the senior nurses. Ms. Gberie who has been in their care for a week and a half was asleep. While I love the work and service being provided by AWC I hate going there because every time I am there I am reminded that the only reason why I am not one of the women in that fistula ward is by chance of birth. If you want to know what it is to be female in Sierra Leone that is where you go. Inside the ward where Ms. Gberie slept, there was a child screaming in pain grabbing on to her sides bending over a bed.
“Aie me mama! Aie me mama!”
Like Ms. Gberie this 5-year-old from Freetown is in the AWC fistula ward because of a secret society. In her case family members voluntarily handed her over to be initiated into the all-female Bondo Society. She sustained injuries when they cut her clitoris as part of the rites of passage into womanhood. Why at five years old a Sierra Leonean child needs to “become a woman” is a question for your national pro-circumcision leading girl heroes securing our cutting culture one cut at a time.
The girl is being tended to by the same nurse caring for Ms. Gberie. In addition to back pain from when she was sat on for the cut, dirt was used to stop the child’s bleeding. Nurse A. explained that traces of it entered into the girl’s urethra blocking her urine. So every time she wants to pee this girl age five is in excruciating pain.
I wasn’t there for her story. Also, what happened to this girl is legal in Sierra Leone. The President knows it is legal, the Speaker of the House of Parliament knows it is legal, the Chief Justice knows, and the Attorney General all of them know this happens here. They all find it acceptable for a girl aged five to be standing in the middle of a hospital for adult fistula patients screaming in pain because someone thought she needed to become a woman. Our leaders must also know that members of the Poro Society abducted 55-year-old Ms. Gberie and raped her and left her for dead. Their collective silence on the matter is deafening.
When Ms. Gberie was referred to Aberdeen’s Women Center the attending Nurse A. said she found her in the following state:
Ms. Gberie’s knees were bruised. She had bruises on her back consistent with being dragged. She had blood clots in her eyes and head swelling. She had a perineal tear in her vagina. After her vagina was dilated the nurse said she and the attending doctor found an additional wound deep within the vagina, a lateral tear. The nurse said the tear looks like what you would expect if someone took a piece of cloth and tore it with their hands. It is the kind of tear you see with extreme violence. In addition to this, she still has aches and pains all over her body because while she was being raped she was also being beaten and kicked. Ms. Gberie told the nurse that she covered her face for most of the attack because she was afraid they would kick her eyes. At some point during the attack, Ms. Gberie says that she felt like they had put something inside of her, something that couldn't have been a hand or a penis. Nurse Anita said that Ms. Gberie was eager to get a scan when she arrived at the clinic. She wanted to know if there was anything left in her vagina. Nurse Anita said they didn't find any object but they did find that lateral tear.
The incident took place on 11 January this year. When the Poro Society men came out to the community they went to attack the house of PC Foster Gberie. She was hidden and barricaded in the loo and that is why she was spared. They destroyed her house and stole her money and goods. For seven hours these poro men terrorized the community and no one could leave their homes out of fear. It may be that because they could not get the paramount chief, they took her sister. Ms. Gberie was hiding in another room. Since the news of the attack and rape spread none of the leaders of the Poro Society in Bonthe has denounced her attack. No man from Bonthe has spoken out against this attack. None of our nation’s leaders have taken a stand to let us know that women in Sierra Leone are worth more than this. That during times of war and peace no single girl or woman in this country should be violated like this.
The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone yesterday put out a statement on this incident and these were their recommendations:
Ministry of Local Government should popularize the “guidelines for the organisations of secret societies
Council of chiefs should consistently engage heads of secret societies on how to conduct themselves without hindrance to the enjoyment of rights of non-members
Sierra Leone police should expedite the investigations on the incident and increase security in Motuo Village.
Ministry of Social Welfare should facilitate the rehabilitation of Ms. Gberie
Ms. Gberie was abducted and raped because her sister PC Melrose Foster Gberie refused to allow the Poro Society to initiate boys under the age of 18. Also as per the Guidelines for the Organisation of Secret Societies no poro initiations can take place without prior notice to the community. There was no notice given to PC Foster Gberie. The Police have arrested one person as per the HRC update but the rest have fled. They say the Paramount Chief should be patient.
Over the past 12 months (since a national rape emergency was declared) I have remained hopeful for all ous-girls and women. I thought Sierra Leone was finally ready to not just come to terms with the demons of sexual violence in our country but that we were ready to uproot them. We are not. The various versions of this story that have been recounted have all tried to reduce the visibility of the rape and torture of Ms. Gberie. Only one person Dr. Sylvia Blyden was brave enough to say the truth and ask the right questions because of fear.
As I type this I am also afraid because I know the Poro has power and they give power. I know that their powers stretch across all arms of government because no one can seat on the throne if they have not been given power by the Poro. But if one woman in Sierra Leone can be dragged out of her home by 15 men, raped and beaten and that story doesn’t cause a national uproar no woman here is safe.
Even as I write this I know there will be no justice in this matter because even with all the laws and speaking points women and girls are no safer in Sierra Leone today than we were last year. In fact, I’m starting to feel like all we have done is angered the men for daring to believe we were not here for their taking.
There is a version of this story that I’ve seen that says that this 55-year-old Mende woman, a native of Bonthe who doesn’t even speak Krio went to the Poro initiation of her own accord. Yes, the victim-blaming narrative has already been inked.
More than anything else I am writing out of grief. I also feel like a fraud. I keep telling people that we need to make Sierra Leone famous for the right reasons, that the world has us wrong.
During the war we were famous for gender-based violence and gang-rapes, 21 years later our girls and women are still being raped for sport.
