5 Mid Mornings

If you had the ability to erase bad memories, would you do it? Or do you think bad memories make up who we are?

In the 14th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear how Jes Foord is out walking with her father in Kwa Zulu Natal when 5 armed men held them up. They tied her father to a tree and threw her into a ditch where she was gang raped. When the attackers fled, she had to find the strength to report what happened. At the police station she's told there is no private room available, so she waits in the staff lunch area until she can give her statement. She is eventually taken to a clinic in Pinetown where she waited hours for the on-duty doctor to administer a rape kit. Back at the scene the SAPS dog unit finds the perpetrators’ car crashed into a tree about a kilometre away and begins tracking them. The dogs follow the scent for 16 hours until all 5 men are found and arrested. Exactly one year later her case appears in court for the first time. Jes went on to establish a foundation that focuses on education, creating awareness and changing attitudes through advocacy and other initiatives. It's her aim to address the problem itself, and the prevalence of rape in our society.
"16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life. 

What would your younger self not believe about your life today

Michaela van Nierop shares a story that begins in her 1st year of university, when a night out with friends ended in her being drugged, abducted, and taken to a BnB where she was raped. She was a virgin with a strict Catholic upbringing, carrying shame that was never hers to carry. Years later she met someone online and was raped again. Like so many women featured in "16 Voices", the justice system offered her nothing. She turned to alcohol to cope and eventually checked herself into rehab. Today she is rebuilding her life and choosing to live rather than simply survive.

This 16 Days of Activism, Impilo Collection Foundation's founder, Angela Yeung brings a conversation about period poverty to the airwaves. We learn about the organisation's EmpowerHer initiative and the symbolic display of bras at Constitution Hill.

The key to happiness is confidence.

What are some of the qualities that make someone popular?

In the 10th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear from Merlize Jogiat. She is a survivor of gender based violence and now works as the Advocacy and Operations Coordinator for Woman For Change. Her story began in a home where her father used violence and fear as discipline, shaping her earliest understanding of love and authority. As an adult she entered a marriage where the cycle continued. She and her son were abused emotionally, physically and financially. Today Merlize uses her voice and her work to fight for women whose stories mirror her own, and to demand accountability in a country where far too many survivors are silenced.

In the 9th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear from a survivor who can't share her name because the violence she lived through still threatens her safety. She was on set to film a gospel music video when a group of men armed with guns and knives stormed in. They dragged her and her friends into the bushes and gang raped them repeatedly, she was four months pregnant at the time. She did everything a survivor is told to do; opened a case, trusted the system, yet not a single arrest was made. Police didn't narrow down suspects, or protect her. Instead her identity was leaked to the media, and she had to hide for her own safety to give birth to her child in a safe house.

Her story mirrors the reality of countless women in South Africa, women who are forced to rely on the kindness of strangers and organisations like Women for Change because the justice system has left them to fend for themselves.

3 December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Michel'le Donnelly joins us for a conversation about inclusivity and how communities can observe this day. She also tells us about the efforts of the organisation to fight for the rights of persons with disabilities and how we can look after our mental health as we approach the new year.