Grade 8, Parktown High School for Girls
All I could hear was screaming, crying and shouting… I prayed that I was not next. My so-called father kept hitting, punching and swearing at my mother and all I did was hide in my bedroom. My father abused my mother because he always thought that she was cheating on him and he did not want me as a child. He thought that I was not his biological child and that I was somebody else’s child.
My father always thought that he was “powerful” and had n“control” over my mother. I still do not know why my mother did not stand up for herself. She always did what my father wanted out of fear of getting hit like a punching bag.
I hated my father. I did not want him close to me and I did not listen to him when he called me. He always told me that, “This is what happens to women who do not listen,” and that, “Women should listen and bow down to men.”
My mother always had bruises on her face and sometimes she could not speak or walk properly due to the pain she felt. “Why don’t you open a case against this man?” I always asked her. And she would say, “Do not call him that. He is your father and you are too young to understand.” I always punched the wall when I was angry or locked myself up in my room to find peace.
This is not the only reason why I hated my father. He always forced himself on me when my mother was at work and he would threaten to kick me out of the house. My mother always worked until 6 p.m. and my father would use that time to sexually abuse me.
I loved going to school because it was the only time when I could escape all the abuse and the fighting at home. The problem was… I could not concentrate at school. I always had flashbacks of what was happening at home. I always isolated myself and I did not trust anyone. That was the reason why I had no friends.
When the COVID-19 lockdown came in 2020, the situation became worse. My father sexually abused me frequently and my mother was abused regularly. I could not escape from this prison called home. I had no one to call for help.
Every time I told my mother that I was sexually abused, she only told me that I wanted a reason to put my father in prison and she told me that I was lying. I could not understand why she chose that man’s side instead of choosing my side! I hated my life and wondered why they had brought me into this cruel world.
I did not think about killing myself because I knew that onemday everything was going to be okay and that I was going to succeed. I was not going to let the devil win.
One day I told myself that, “Enough is enough.” I went to the police station and I told the police everything that was going on at home. Luckily, they believed me and came to my house and took my father away. I looked at him and said, “It all comes to an end,” and he looked at me with shame and guilt.
My mother apologised and said that she did not know how all the abuse had affected me. She also promised that she would never doubt me and that she would never bow down to a man again. I felt joy in my heart but I could not hug my mother due to COVID-19 restrictions.
To stop the flashbacks and all the negative impacts of the sexual abuse my father inflicted on me, I went to the psychologists at a local hospital and I got all the help I needed. My mother also got all the help she needed.
It is now 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic is still here but I am now a sixteen-year-old girl in Grade 10. I am young, beautiful and smart. Nothing can inhibit me and I am stronger than ever. I have a powerful and strong mother by my side who will fight every battle with me. I am at the top of my class and I will make all my dreams come true. I am a new person and I have buried all my struggles, problems and bad memories in the past.