According to Mail & Guardian, rape in South Africa is systemic and endemic. The country’s annual police crime statistics confirm this. There were 42 289 rapes reported in 2019/2020, as well as 7 749 sexual assaults. This translates into about 115 rapes a day. South Africa has one of the highest rape statistics in the world, this picture has been more or less the same every year since the early 2000s with the numbers going slightly up or down. Despite everything that happened Zisanda decided to pen down what she went through as she experienced being raped at a tender age.
Mount Ayliff-born author Zisanda Nxokweni wrote a book titled “I WAS RAPED BUT I CAME OUT FREE”, the book mainly focuses on the three occasions where she was raped by three different people and on three different occasions. “I was raped when I was 6 years old, it happened again when I was 13- years old and also happened in varsity while I was busy with my studies,” she explains.
One of the challenges she faced when writing this book is that everything that happened came back as if it was happening again at the same time and she found herself healing. The reason why she wanted to pen down what she went through is that she got healed and wants the next person to know the steps of healing and know that there is a greater future ahead of us. “I learned that a pen and paper can be the best healing weapon,” she says.
Besides being an author Zisanda is a well-rounded, hardworking professional. She has worked as a professional hairdresser, beauty therapist, and social auxiliary worker. She trained and worked as an Edu-care teacher she’s also a motivational speaker and events planner.
“To someone that sitting there who is also a victim and who hasn’t spoken out, I want to say the best and the first step to healing is coughing out when you start talking you bring healing in your life. Speaking out opens your heart and be able to find that you are still capable of doing whatever you need to do. I want that person to stand out and be able to speak so that have peace in their heart I know it’s not easy but it’s doable,” she concluded.
—Photo / Supplied
