32-year old Nigerian journalist, Tope Delano has just shared a very touching story on her Twitter handle of how she’s been raped twice, survived post partum depression and how she’s lost almost everyone she loves.
In her post, she writes, ‘I was molested between ages of 7 and 11, raped twice, battled depression almost half of my life, dealt with post-partum depression, lost 4 persons I cared about, in the space of 1year 5 months #diaryofadamagedAfricangirl #DADAG #Thread’.
Follow her story below…
Not to long ago, she put another tweet about depression. With the growing rate of suicides and depression in Nigeria, journalist Tope Delano in a series of tweets just said, ‘the way we casually attach the word ‘depressed’ to every statement is appalling’.
According to her, ‘mental health has us hostage with a double barrel gun pointed straight to our head waiting for just one move and a bullet goes off, but if course this isn’t something we should be talking about or dealing with as much. We sweep our own dirt under the carpet in 72 hours’.
Rape has continued to be a menace in the society with many cases recorded on daily basis. While most of them are unreported to appropriate authorities, some victims and families do, but no justice, as accused are not duly punished.
Another brave victim simply called Martha, boldly approached and reported to a non-governmental organisation called The Valiant Voices Organisation, TVVO, for justice, where she narrated her ordeal on how she was brutally raped, which almost led to her untimely death.
In her story she narrates…
“In the cold of the night, as I attempted to get out of his way, he grabbed me tight to his body, pinned me to the floor, he hurriedly tore my pants, threw my soaked pad away, and I was on the heaviest day of my menstrual cycle, he tied my mouth with his shirt. I wished it were a dream.
“All I could do was to struggle, I strained my eyeballs and wished my eyeballs could help me scream out for help. But all my effort to escape was futile. It was as if my lacrimal gland burst, my tears were uncontrollable. He released me after 30 minutes. I was soaked in blood.
“It occurred to me, my hymen was brutally torn by a wicked man. Mum’s counsel faded before my eyes, my promises to God, mum and myself failed. I struggled to breathe, it was as if I was going to die, all that was running in my head was suicide, I tried to move my legs, I couldn’t as I forcefully did, I fell down. It was my uncle, he raped me.”
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