Writ in CometitionShort Stories forLONG MOMENTS OF PEACE

I n o u r p r e v i o u s i s s u e o fSister Namibia we called onyoun9 peopte to part ic ipatein a wr i t ing compet ion con-ducted by the Cerman orga-n lsa t ion Wor ld Communi tyService foryouth in Namibia,S o u t h A f r i c a , Z i m b a b w e ,Pa les t ine , l s rae l , Cermanyand the Nether lands .For the compet i t ion , youngpeople were asl<ed to wri tea. short stbry about a per-s o n a l s i t u a t i o n i n w h i c hthey were afraid of or direc-t ly confronted with violence.The stof ies were to includet h e i r i d e a s f o r n o n v i o l e n tso lu t ions to such s iu ta t ions ,a n d m o r e g e n e r a l l y t h e i rideas on how we can achiev6peace in our fami l ies, (om- The Namibian winners are Nin ja in the middle,mun i t i es and be tween na t i ons .

Ronnel on the left and Ndeshi on the right.

s is ter inv i ted g i r ls f rom secondary schools in l (a tutura, l (homasdal and Windhoel< to a two-day wor l<shop focussrngon now to recog n ise, confront a nd dea I wi th va r ious forms of v io lence exper ienced by the g i r ls . Ski l fu l ly fac i l i ta tedby Thob i l e H lophe , a you th wo r l<e r f r om Durban , t he g i r l s we re ab le t o sha re t he pa in t hey had expe r i enced i nthe i r l i ves and g i ve each o the r suppo r t and adv i ce .Namibian author NeshaniAndreas inspi red the g i r ls wi th readings f rom her novel The purpte v io let of oshaan(utand engaged them in a wr i t ing exerc ise to hone thei r expressiv-e s l< i l ls . The wor l<shop bore f ru i t wi th z6 stor iesbe ing submi t t ed to t he compe t i t i on i n Qermany , wh i ch the j udges found to be ' , o f ve ry h igh qua l i t y , a l t houghb ru ta l and sho< l< ing . "

And the Namibian winners are ...Ninja Hochob€s, Centaurus Secondary School, Windhoel<Ronnel Coagoses, Jan Jonker Secondary School, l (atuturaNdeshi Joseph, A. Shipena Secondary School, l<atutura.crace l(andundu of Shif id i Secondary School and Hendrina Katanga of David Bezuidenhout SecondarySchool received special mention.The Namibian winners wi l l jo in the winners from the other countr ies in an internat ionalyouth camp inzoo4 conduded by the world community service, most probably in cermany.The best stor ies wi l l shared among al l the part ic ipat ing countr ies so that young people can learn fromone another about what causes violence and how we can bui ld peace in our communites and countr ies.ln the meantime Part i ( iPants are encouraged to develop their stor ies into radio scr ipts or dramas to beperformed on an Action Day in order to share their message with a broader audience. Sister will facilitatethis process for Namibia with another workshop. Beyond this the Nambian part ic ipants are planningto establ ish creat ive wri t ing clubs at their school unier the guidance of s ister.on the fol lowing three pages are extracts from some of the Namibian stor ies.

, . r and thghouse seems tobe shaking . r rStories of surviving domesticviolence and abuseI am si t t ing watching television. Outside Ican hear the sound of my father 's car. He isdrunk again. I l<now i t f rom the fast wayhe dr ives his car. Suddenly the ki tchen dooropens. His footsteps are gett ing louder andmore scary as he approache's the si t t ingroom. He appears l ike a giant in the doorof th.e sitting room, tall and fat. His voiceroars: "Where were yoLr this afternoon?,," l was at the study . . ." I say tearful ly. , .Shutup!" he screams and the house seems to beshaking. He approaches me.and gets a gr ipon my hair . 'He is going to hi t me with hisbelt and lock me outside to sleep with thedog again.. r .

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I was only B when he started to force me into sex. *Doyoung and didn't understand I always answered,..yes I

you love your daddyl" he always asked, and because I wasdo daddy." l f I only knew what my father,s quest ion meant.

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I thought I could tel l my mom, but when I told her she said: "stop spreading l ies" and beat me with anything shehad in her hands. I was always in pain. I t r ied to ignore i t but i t d i jn ' t help be-cause every t ime my dad f inished andwent away I was bleeding' I couldn' t bel ieve what was happening: my dad was keeping me and my mom didn,tbel ieve me. The only quest ion lef t in my head was WHy?

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Just thinking of that farm worker who raped r1'" *h"n I was three, and at that age I didn,t know anything, but Iremember and always wi l . l . l 'd blow off his bal ls i f I ever encountered him, which I doubt. probably he,s dead bynow and I hope so. I feel very dir ty, i t is so crass and hurt ing towards me for them to have done something l ikethat to me' And when my fr iends speak of being virgins tve got nothing to say because the topic of sex andvirgini ty br ings back al l those bad memories.

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I ran out of the house to my neighbours. I told them everything. They didn' t bel ieve me because my father wasknown as a good man. I went back to the house because I had nowheie to go. He grabbed me as I came into thehouse and <arr ied me to his room. I cr ied "help me, somebody, please help me." u6 taia me down on his bed andtore my clothes aPart. He raped me. As he was raping me I thought of my mom's last words she told me.. .Mydaughter, stand uP for your r ights." I t r ied to reach thedrawer close to the bed and f ind his gun. I pointed the gunat him and said "9o off me or l ' l l shoot you!" My father kept on pushing and the gun went off . l just saw bloodspitting on my face.

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sister namibia 22

Three weeks later I found out that Iwas carrying his chi ld. . . I dropped outo.f .school at the age of rz in 'graae ; .When l to ld h im tha t lwas p*gnunt ,Ruddy shouted:. " t wi l l l< i l l 'yor l with:h : . t baby ins ide your womb; youDetter not tel l anyone that I am thefather. . . Close the door behind you,you bi tch, and get losi l , , l justwantejt o c o m m i t s u i c i d e . L a t e r o n m vparents found out I was pr"gnunt.They told me to go and stay with theman who had made me pregnant andthat they did not want anything todo with me and the baby.

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I took some clothes to tron. I don,tl<now how James entered the house,. l just hpard his big voice behind me.'Where were you 7,, he asl<ed me. Hepushed me down and started kicking me

| ^fr:o1t of my daughter. He kicked me ai l over my body untir I courdn,t feelthe pain anymore' My body aiea' H-e tola Andrea notto aJanytrr ing stupia. wr, ir l ' r ," was faclng Andrea r quicr<ry;:""?:rl?:;i:Ti:li r'ot i'on una'il;;* it in his race. I r"ri r'i ' there with nis ans,y burned race and ran to the

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She sa id: " l shou ld 1:l :^ ' : : :": i Jo voy, t1:?-.1*

I?rr1n't h,ave,happened.,,she bu rst into tea rs asa in. I eot confusedands ta r tedques t i on ingher . sh6wasu teea ingana tas t<ea : o ,a r r " i up "yo r , , ; i h " r . i ahe f i r s td id i t and thena l l o fhis six friends' I was shocked ana wanieJ to tat(e her to the h":?j.".! oyi ,h" ;;;J me not to. r did everything tohelp her" ' But | <ouldn't stoP uraming myself. I shouldn't huu"l"rt her arone witf irrat,boyfriend,. rf r courd just turnback the clock' Whv was I so stupid t; lei i t happen ? D; | ; ; ; ;r;e to be cailed a u"i l i r i"na r I shourd have rooked foriiillil"Ji;:;:iff&'iJost heiui'ginitv and disnitv. she wir never feer proud of hlrserf. 5he stir rooks so atrractive

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Ndemukonsa was sitt ing next to the f ire y1:"- l ] : : 'dlrt !3yr,t"r tord him the news. He jumped up and srapped heron her face' "what do you t"un yo' *unt to start schooru o,J r never tei l you that no girr from this house is goingto attend school 7 | <washins ,nrorm '"i:1".i:,";IT;J":? iJ"lT;l3l"".lf*llliffiTT:?linfnn:o,<ins and doine thea a a a a a a a t a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a .

Three years later ' Sarah's father marr ied another woman. After school Sarah had to wash al l the dir ty dishes, cleanthe wal ls and the f loors' wash her father 's clothes as wei l u, r ' r"r ra"p-rother,s. she had to crean the yard, rar( ing i tand picking up the stones around i t ' She couldn' t s i t with t ' r"r r . t rootu""rr , "r i i r . , "r i b 'eing <al led on duty. This wastal<ing place in the absence of her father ' when he was at t rome,tr 'e.woman pretendea to rove sarah very much.on ly then <ou ld she s i t and ea t ' d r ink , iu l t una re lax , a r thougr , ,h " wourd be in t roubre aga in the nex t day . . . shedecided'to tel l her father ' but he couldn' t Jel ieve i t and said ih 'e was just missing r," , . n, . ,otr ," , . and didn,t r i r<e her stepmom.

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Liv ing in a home where both your Parents are alcohol ics is a tough l i fe. you need to survive by sreeping in any pracecomfortable' Sometimes you sleep without eat ing for the whJt. ,aay v", """a-ao-put up with a mothei ueingf*i:;J;::Jil:::#:J#.['#Jl?:L?UffitrxT"? f;:i;,l::l",who bea,s your mo,her when they are

Some of themanysof ut ions.. .l'm learning not to let my l i fe be ruledby men and not to al low myself to bebeaten by any man, not my father, notmy bro ther and de f in i te ly no t myboyfr iend or husband. Women l ike mvmother who are brutal ly being abusedand beaten up by the i r boy f r iendss h o u l d j o i n g r o u p s l i l < e W o m e h , sSol idar i ty who.are teaching womehabout the. i r r ights and survival .

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T e a c h e r s a t s c h o o l s s h o u l d t e a c hyoung gir ls about their r ights as human beings, and self defence classes should be implemented. The teachers ofal l schools must rememb*erthey play a major role in e hi ldren's l ives. They can bui ld or brea1 a chi ld. A chi ld that isbroken wi l l be in their crass and-they rrr i know the condit ions of the chird,s home.

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We as women want our voices to be hearc.damaged at this age how wi l l we become thestand up and f ight for their women,s r ights in

Especial ly-the teenagers, we are the future generat ion. r f we arefuture leadersT Women should be more educated so that they canorder to resolve discr iminat ion and unfair t reatment from men.

sister namibia 24

iffi'.,