Girl child activist Makoni is CNN hero

As campaigns to have International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) enacted into law intensify Makoni, named CNN Hero 2009 for her exemplary role in protecting the powerless, joined Women Thrive Worldwide and millions of campaigners in the US on Congressional Briefing on Violence Against Women, scheduled for September 16 at Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

Makoni is expected to brief the congress about forced marriages of African girls, some aged below 15, to elderly man in the outdated traditional set-ups still practised on the continent’s poor communities.

Recently, a 14-year-old girl had her ears and fingers sliced off by her father in-law in Tanzania for playing out with friends and shunning her role of being a wife and Makoni, herself a victim of rape when she was six years old, will give such testimonies.

“Makoni rescued over 35000 girls in Zimbabwe raped mostly because of the myth that virgins cure HIV and AIDS,” said Catalina Rojas, the Director of Global Partnerships, one of the organisers of the congress.

“Her innovative strategy to transform victims into survivors and leaders walking in the fullness of their potential has been globally awarded.”
If IVAWA is enacted into law, the US will support grassroots organisations for women and girls like Makoni’s Girl Child Network (GCN) to implement projects to eliminate violence against women and girls and Makoni called on the public worldwide to support the initiative.

“I am calling upon every man, woman, boy and girl to come on board and support enactment of IVAWA into law,” said Makoni, who founded the GCN and will be on a two week long tour of USA educating Congressmen and women about why it is critical to enact IVAWA.

“I hail efforts by Women Thrive Worldwide and many other activists who have been so thoughtful. With what is currently going on in the DRC where babies have been raped and women used as weapons of war, IVAWA will go a long way in saving lives.”

Millions of girls are said to have lost their lives worldwide, most of them in Africa, in what is believed to be a silent genocide in the home through harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation, rape, forced marriage, physical beatings, accusations of witchcraft and this has undermined the full physical and spiritual development of a girl into a woman leader walking in the fullness of her potential.

The number of women and girls who have died as a result of violence is estimated to be over 30 million per year worldwide.