Stolen Childhood

Children born as a result of sexual abuse are children, who have no good story to tell their friends or their families. For example, 'I can't confide in my son, who has a family, wife and children, because of shame and guilt, they live in denial.' My children have suffered because they have not been loved. It was the same for me. They have heard a lot of bad things about me. I sometimes pity them, because they did not ask to be born in this way. The children become a laughing stock within and outside the family. They don’t understand why they are not accepted in society. They are a curse to the family and community. Abuse also divides families, because the family doesn’t know where the children belong. How can my sisters have a relationship with my children when they were born from the same man whom they called their Dad? How do I address my young brothers and sisters…? I have no relationship with them. I have been labelled a black sheep and witch. All these misunderstandings have led to guilt and embarrassment to themselves and to the community. Families can try to pretend and not face the truth. The children suffer quietly without help. That is what my children have been experiencing from the time they were born to the time of my writing. It has caused a lot of hate and mistrust between my two boys now. My eldest son is like a wounded buffalo. He is a very sad person inside. I can feel it from the way he speaks. Once he told me, “Mum, you have a home for abused children. I am also abused and I have not had anyone to help me”. I understood what he meant. He has never had counselling. I had managed to pay for counselling for his young brother because of his drinking problem. I hope this book will help them to understand that I was a child when I was being abused.