DURBAN - A POWERFUL VIDEO of a Durban psychologist who shared the haunting sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of an elderly man is set to spark change.
Umzinto resident Adele Munsami, 28, posted the video on her Facebook page “Turning Pain into Power” to share her story as part of the #MeToo and 16 Days of Activism campaigns. The video has been viewed more than 15000 times.
At the age of three, Munsami was allegedly raped by a man in his fifties who had been entrusted to care for her during the day.
Munsami said: “He would take me for walks, pretending to want to show me gardens. The earliest memories I have are of him sexually assaulting me. He told me not to cry as this was ‘our secret’ and as I grew older his filthy ways became more violent and he said ‘if you tell anyone I will do it to your mother’".
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Vulnerable at the time, Munsami felt threatened and could not report what was happening to her.
“In those moments I struggled to survive. He would tear me down and tell me that he was doing me a favour by loving me, and I became increasingly depressed. The pain was so deep that no matter how much I sobbed it wouldn’t go away,” she said.
The broken Munsami focused on her academic studies and excelled until high school when the weight of her depression caused her to inflict harm on herself.
“I used to hit and cut my wrists wanting to feel pain, with the hope that as my physical injuries healed I would get emotional relief and feel alive even though I was dying inside,” she said.
Adele Munsami wears a 'survivor' tattoo.
Munsami attempted suicide at age 17, but an overdose of pills was not enough to take her life, and after recovering from that ordeal, she told her parents about the trauma the old man had caused her.
“They immediately gave me the love and support I needed. We did not report the matter to the authorities because I had no evidence that would assist me in court. He (the perpetrator) moved to Johannesburg after my parents told his wife, and died recently without any suffering for what he had done to me. But I still see his house on my way home,” she said.
Pursuing her PhD in neuropsychology at UCT, Munsami said: “We cannot be defined as victims. I mourned the loss of my childhood but I used that pain to strengthen my determination to move forward.”
She has since created the digital movement “Turning Pain Into Power” to help other survivors of such trauma.