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Saturday Star - April 8, 2000
By Claudia Mpeta
Door closes for sex victims
Zandi (not her real name) is a shy 18-year old with big brown eyes and a bashful smile. She's enjoying work as a receptionist for a small human rights organization. Her androgynous manner of dressing is a stark reminder of the years of sexual abuse this soft-spoken young woman managed to escape from. She refuses to wear any
jewelery or any clothing that would make her look girlish, and prefers to keep her hair as short as possible. Zandi is a graduate of a life skills programme that helps child prostitutes to reintegrate into society and with their families
Started in 1997 by The House Group, the Kulula Project had to close its doors last month because of lack of funding. "Attempts to get funding from the government for the programme as a pilot project failed" says programme co-founder Adele du Plessis. "The only way the government was prepared to fund us was as a shelter. But we already have the Intombi Shelter. Kulula was the third phase of a process designed to give these girls skills and help them to reintegrate. According to the law, a shelter can only offer three months of assistance, and then they are back on the streets. Our programme stretches up to 30 months and deals with everything from homelessness to drug addiction," she says. Du Plessis adds: "We wanted Kulula to be used as a pilot project and eventually be used to formulate youth policy." In its two-year existence, the programme has had an 80% success rate in reintegrating the girls into their families and society. In addition to counseling and therapy, the programme also offers craft, personal and life skills training.
According to Glynnis Rhodes, out door programmes coordinator for the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce, there are very few organizations dealing with the commercial sexual exploitation of children. "There are still many misconceptions about children on the street who enter into prostitution," she says. "There is a sense that the child opts to enter into the sex industry. But often it's a complex system that results in them living on the streets - one that most often includes abuse. You can't just remove a child from sexual exploitation; you need to deal with the entire range of issues facing that child."
Police sources admit they are fighting a losing battle in the fight against child prostitution. "You take a child off the street tonight, and within 24 hours that child is back." Said a police source who asked not to be identified. "The programmes that do exist are too bureaucratic and ineffective. It can take tow weeks before a child prostitute gets any kind of treatment or counseling. And even then, shelters are so packed that there is no space for them. It's fine and well to get someone at the top to make decisions, but he might not know what it's like on the ground."
Zandi considers herself one of the lucky few who managed to get help before Kulula closed its doors last month. "The best thing about Kulula was the freedom," she says. "There was open space and that is where I learnt all the skills I have now."
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