Coping with trauma of sexual abuse or human trafficking can be very challenging. Some women develop post traumatic stress disorder and sink into depression while others develop suicidal thoughts. The community sometimes makes it difficult for survivors of sexual abuse or human trafficking to speak out so they just swallow up their pain and try to fight it alone.
Having safe spaces where they can speak freely to an expert who understands their pain and knows how to counsel them is thus usually very important. Through the Survivors Network Africa safe space in Kumba Cameroon, many women have since April 2021 had access to psychosocial support that has helped them heal and be able to get back on their feet and get their lives going again.
Francisca says “In order to bring back the sanity of some survivors who as a result of their abuses they came in to the safe space living in dilemma, we often bring in the services of a mental health personnel who provides PFA to these survivors to help assimilate them back to their normal state. Also, other organizations who offer other services usually come in to vaccinate especially children, provide counseling and capacity building trainings to the survivors to help them recover from the traumas they have undergone and equally assimilate them back in to their communities.”
