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Breaking News – Big Donation for Victims of South African Corrective Rape

Breaking News  .. Melanie Nathan, Nov 25, 2010 – Perseverance pays off;  “don’t tell me it Can’t be done, until you have tried.”  I believe trying means going beyond what others deem possible. Well since the story of Millicent Gaika broke, we at LezGetReal have used our pages to keep the the issue and story in the public purview; to spearhead advocacy and the fund raising project to keep survivors of corrective rape against lesbians, alive – in safe houses, as they heal, get medical attention and as they prepare to testify, against the brutality and to bring the criminals to Justice. The news spread slowly but surely and so we are starting to see the results.  We at LGR have been unwavering in our support and hope that more groups and people  and bloggers join our quest to use their pages for advocacy such as this.

So here is the payoff – and it must continue….

With great thanks to Jules Hussey, the UK representative for the Guguklethu, Cape organization,  Luleki Sizwe, who responded to the outcry, a company known for its quiet and unpublicized support have gone beyond their bounds and provided the equivalent of R70,000 as a donation to the women – to buy a Safe House for victims.  This is life saving- for the women who just weeks back had no money for food,  while facing death threats attending Court to testify against the rapist. Now they can leave the flooded tin shack of two rooms, from which they could have been evicted,  the only shelter for 15 lesbian rape survivors, for high and secured ground.

Lush Hand Made Cosmetic Products based in UK, are “very unassuming about their awards. They don’t ask for recognition, logos, or publicity BUT equally they understand that declaring that a company has given support to a small charity can help the charity so they don’t mind if you publicize this” Julie Hussey tells LezGetReal this thanksgiving day. We get to break this great news with THANKS!

All the money for their fund comes from one of their products – a vegan, ethical product called ‘the charity pot’ – info here – http://www.lush.co.uk/shop/skincare/hand-and-body/charity-pot_319.html

The brave lesbian warriors in South Africa, and specifically Ndumie Funda and Milly Gaika,  cannot do it alone;  they need more help.  We hope that this donation will spur some support from the USA  and other countries as well as serve to enlighten South Africans that their taboo is not being imposed on the rest of the world. We are proud to be lesbians, gay and queer.   You will hear our voice as we synchronize to your heroism.

The UK group LUSH made it clear they are not interested in the Publicity, they just want to help. If another sponsor came through I will give as much PR as they want – the American way. We just need the money to keep helping victims and to pay for advocacy that brings this crisis the help it needs.

In these past few weeks we have been highlighting the story as when Millicent Gaika went to testify she was given no support by the South African Police Authority.   Both her and the Co-founder, Ndumie Funda, of Luleki Sizwe, who has been helping Milly and many others, have been subjected to further victimization and death threats during these hardest hours in their warrior-ship.

Advocates from around the world, the UK, South Africa and Europe have come out to help and we have succeeded in establishing a world net of support, still in its infancy.   The fundraising has been the challenge. The more privileged South African LGBT community as well as the SA government have provided very little by way of any help at all, because this subject is almost taboo.  It is only recently that victims are featured publicly, and that is through their own pushing.   I will not forget my pride in being a lesbian when Ndumie Funda and Millicent Gaika sent me the shocking rape  pictures back in May and asked me to Publish them. It is those pictures the battered and bruised face of Milly, and her wounded neck, strangled by the barbed wire, that helped this issue get this attention.  But it needs more. The South African government must enact hate crimes bill and provide resources to restore its integrity and maintain the dignity of its people.

The willingness of victims to come out and be open in the context of such hate, brutality and cultural impasse, is a testament to bravery of untold proportion.  These women must walk the same street as the animals who brutalize them and face them on public transportation as they head to testify.  Some cannot take the further abuse of a  society that will not help and so as happens frequently just last week, a young victim who had nowhere to go, committed suicide near Port Elizabeth.

“We can beat this and we can survive the horror” – an ever optimistic Ndumie Funda asserts and yes with the help of the International community they will.”  If you want to donate or sponsor the group, please contact me at nathan@privatecourts.com

In Solidarity!…————

TO DONATE AND READ MORE ………….. http://www.stopcorrectiverape.org/

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Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
www.visualcv.com/melnathan

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LUSH COSMETICS – The Charity Pot

STILL AGAINST ANIMAL TESTING-  “We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and in testing our products on humans.”

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