A psychiatric counselling has been planned for 13 girls in Kaloleni alleged to have been defiled by a pastor. – By Ramadhan Kambi.
The girls who majority of them started hallucination and contemplating suicide after the ordeal with the man of God have now been enrolled for the counselling session.
According to Haki Africa deputy executive Director Salma Hemed, some of the affected girls wanted to drop out of school due to stigma.
“Most of these girls were affected and we had to immediately look for a counsellor to take the girls out of the trauma. In as much as we are looking for their justice, their mental health is equally important. We are worried without giving them psycho-social support we might lose some of them,” said Ms Hemed.
Trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF- CBT)
One of the counselors Vespus Chenja, said the girls are currently depressed but said that through counselling they will be able to live a normal life.
“Using Trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF- CBT), they are to have like 12 individual session for them to be healed. I started with rapport building, explaining what counselling is, gathering facts and assessment. I will be visiting them until all the 12 sessions are over,” said Chinje
Chinje said he is currently handling 27 girls who have been defiled in Kaloleni Sub County.
“I have 19 girls in Mariakani who were defiled this month and the eight I met yesterday. I am yet to meet five other girls. Any girl who is sexually abused need psychosocial support since they are traumatised,” he said
He said without counselling the girls may live with trauma throughout their lives.
“They may hate men and never get married in future. They may have suicidal thoughts ending in death. They may suffer depression and low self-esteem which will lead to poor performance in school. They might also suffer Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD), live with anger, irritability, hypervigilance, and insomnia,” he added
The girls claimed they were lured by the pastor for prayer…
Chinje said trauma itself is an overwhelming uncontrollable experience that psychologically impact a victim by creating a feeling of helplessness, vulnerability, loss of safety and loss control.
The girls who range from the age of 13 to 18 years were allegedly defiled by the pastor between September 2019 and September 2020.
Three of them were impregnated by the pastor.
Narrating the ordeal, the girls claimed they were lured by the pastor to join him in praying for people in a house where he had been hosted.
“He was an intercessor and we believed him. We used to pray for people under his guidance and some got healed. Our parents believed he was a true man of God and they allowed us to sleep in the house every time. We used to carry out the prayers in the sitting room,” said one of the girls
Stigma
All the girls are students in one of the primary schools in the area. They are in class six, seven and eight.
The girls are now a laughing stock at school and back home.
“Whenever we are seen we are referred to as wives of the pastor. This is traumatizing us,” said one of the girl.
She claimed the pastor instilled fear in them and blindfolded them.
“He used to call any of us to the bedroom and defile us after putting loud music. He used to threaten us that misfortunes will follow us should we report the matter to anyone. He sometimes threatened us that we will be deaf and dumb and finally die. This made us not to utter a word,” said the girl
The pastor claimed his church is in Ukunda in Kwale county.
Pregnant after Prayer..
Karisa Kahindi, a village elder and a neighbor to the girls and the place where the intercessor was hosted said the matter was blown up after one parent discovered his daughter was pregnant.
“The father came to me after suspecting that the daughter was pregnant. I advised him to take the daughter for pregnancy test and the girl was confirmed to be six months pregnant. The matter was reported to the police and they raided the pastor’s house and all the girls who were residing with him were picked for questioning. He was later arraigned in court and released on bond,” said Kahindi
The pastor was hosted on the guise that he was an orphan.
“We believed that he was an orphan but we later realized he has parents and they are living in Mavueni in Kilifi north Sub County. He has even impregnated a girl at the home where he was hosted,” said Kahindi
According to the girls, the pastor has two identity cards, one for Kenya and the other one for Tanzania.
“Both identity cards bear different names but the same photo. The name he told us is different from the two names in the identity cards,” said the girls
