Tags: violence

Dinah, a 14-year-old girl from Uganda, tells her story of being abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) at age 9 and forced to become a child soldier.  They abuse or threaten to kill her if she tries to escape or refuses to follow their orders, which sometimes included killing and torturing people.  After a year living in the bush, she becomes convinced that her family is dead but eventually escapes to another camp that reunites her with the family.  After years of being haunted by memories and nightmares of her experiences, she has finally been able to stop thinking about these expe

The daily backdrop of violence against women in South Africa sets the stage for Thoko's rape.  She wakes up in the middle of the night with a knife at her throat and the case, like so many, is never pursued by law enforcement.  After despairing that she'll never be free from the violence of her past and now present, Thoko realizes that for the sake of her newborn niece she must continue to champion the rights of women and children. 

Morapedi is a young South African man who is eager to continue his education. He mourns the loss of his sister-in-law and regrets he was unable to challenge his older brother, who abused and beat her. Eventually, Morapedi's brother began sleeping around and infected the sister-in-law with HIV, which led to her death. Morapedi wonders how women, who are the soul of the nation, can be treated so badly.

Kath, who lives and works on sexual assault issues in South Africa, wonders if her story of rape is "worth telling," because to her it seems so normal, so every day. A friend of her boyfriend's raped her years ago, while they traveled overseas. Kath realizes that the tragedy of what happened to her is the tragedy of rape and abuse in general: that so often, we accept it simply because it occurs over and over again.

Jules is a gender activist and HIV educator living in South Africa. She grapples with the fact that one of her most trusted male friends attempted to raper her several years ago, wondering if he viewed her as "an easy target" because she had told him about her childhood sexual abuse. Ultimately, she challenges him to acknowledge the seriousness of his actions and honors those who truly love and care for her.

The storyteller talks about his community Roxbury, MA and how something needs to be done about the continual violence.

The storyteller shares his views on immigration and racism.

This story is a personal reflection on the "one second rule" - taught to teenagers to stop and think about their actions before getting into physical conflicts. George relates his own personal experiences and thoughts about his future and how they were changed by learning about this rule.

A story about a personal incident of "drama" that almost led to violence that spurned Ada to change the way she approaches life, especially avoiding "obstacles that contain a negative impact."