Survivor from Khayelitsha

A woman from Khayelitsha, who wished to remain anonymous, said her ex-boyfriend beat her so badly that he broke her arm. She escaped his house in just her pajama pants, and at 2 a.m., she walked to the police station topless to report the crime. The police told her she needed to go to a clinic, without offering her any clothing to cover herself with or a ride to the clinic, which was twenty minutes away. Instead, a stranger who was at the police station to report a crime eventually offered her his tracksuit top, and she made her way to the clinic on foot.

Once she arrived at the clinic, staff told her that she would have to wait until the morning to get an X-ray of her arm. The following morning, after an X-ray confirmed her arm was broken, the clinic redirected her to Khayelitsha Hospital for further treatment. The clinic did not have an ambulance. She was told she would have to pay for a taxi to get there. She had no money and had to return home to get the money for the taxi. Once she got to the hospital, she was admitted, but no one ever asked about the circumstances of her injury or offered any counselling.

“No one asked me what happened, or we’re going to do like counselling for you, or how do you feel?”