Gender-based violence survivors from Mt Elgon have asked the government to help them get back land they lost during the 2007-08 skirmishes.
At the time, women, men and young girls underwent defilement, rape and domestic violence. Some were killed.
In an interview with the Star, a 51-year-old woman from Chebuk said during the 2007-08 post-poll chaos, she was raped by two men and thrown into the bush.
"The two men found me fetching water. By that time people were not walking around for fear of the Sabaot Land Defense Force. I screamed for help but no one came to my rescue. People were scared," she narrated.
She said after raping her, the two men went to her home, chopped off her husband's head and dragged his body to an unknown place.
The woman does not know where the body was taken.
She said she was forced out of her land and rendered homeless. She lives in a rental house with her family.
"After we were chased away from our land, some people started preying on my daughters. They were raped and gave birth to kids whose fathers are not known,” she said.
She said after nursing rape injuries for two months, someone approached her and asked her to go for counselling.
Another woman from the same area, said she was raped and cut on the legs, back and neck in 2008. She was rescued by a Good Samaritan and taken to hospital.
The woman said she conceived and gave birth to a baby boy whom her husband does not like.
She appealed to the government to help the more than 200 women from Mt Elgon who were displaced during the 2007-08 clashes get back their land.
Rose Chemos, the founder of GBV Survivors Network, said she started the group after attending a workshop in Nakuru that was sponsored by Wangu Wanja Foundation.
Chemos said 50 women have come out and shared their stories on violence meted out on them. She said some of the rape victims were infected with HIV-Aids, STIs, while some got pregnant.
She said at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bungoma county recorded 2,000 cases of rape and defilement and 200 cases of domestic violence.
She asked victims to help fight gender-based violence by reporting the perpetrators to the authorities.
Edited by A.N
