JOIN THE MILLIONS OF AFRICANS WHO WILL MARCH AGAINST RAPE! 
  
Like anywhere else in the world, mothers and fathers in South Africa, as well as families, teachers, officials, health-care workers and anyone with a heart, all oppose sexual violence of any kind. CIFKIDS will inspire hope for millions of African citizens in this region of the world during a march that will protest public apathy, governmental inaction, and the cultural roots of this very difficult social problem. By showing support for the victims, many of them impoverished children, organizers hope to raise awareness and solicit public help to fight South Africa’s insidious documented rape culture. 
 
Fueled by the AIDS crisis and the powerful lies of Natural Healers who put forth the view that sexual relations with a young person can cure an infected male of this deadly virus, the ‘rape crisis’ in regions like Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa, is the new human rights issue for the women and young female children of Africa. Controversial, socially awkward, unpleasant, and infuriating, rape in Africa today is something that has been researched by many well-known and respected social-interest groups, such as the World Health Organization, which recognizes CIFKIDS as a WHO affiliate. The data shows that thousands upon thousands of young women are routinely violated. In a culture in which male sexual entitlement, poverty, poor legal response and corruption of the courts, few treatment programs and facilities, and pervasive discrimination and mistreatment against women, child rape has become a true crisis. 
 
The facts are plain enough even to overwhelmed officials. South Africa’s first ‘Stop Woman Abuse’ telephone hot-line received 150,000 calls in the first few months of operation. Hospitals, orphanages, and health-care workers often see cases in which the victims are very young. Perpetrators are treated lightly by the courts—and may not even be punished. Judges are afraid to speak out about the problem, and women may not be allowed to bring charges or testimony. Women can be viewed as a man’s property on the level of a livestock animal, or even lower, and as many as 32 percent of women report that their first sexual experience was forced. Young men see gang rape as “fun” or “cool,” and victims fear beatings if they resist or refuse sex. As a wide-scale and endemic cultural problem, South Africa’s rape crisis is one with numerous victims who are scarred for life, with many negative personal consequences. 
   
The African March of Millions will take place following a live concert of African musicians. The focus will be Cape Town, South Africa, where marchers will bring their message to the steps of the Parliament Building. Other simultaneous ‘satellite’ marches in South Africa’s five main provinces, as well as townships in other sub-Saharan nations, will create a public display of disapproval calculated to bring the issue to those who most need to know that South African’s up-right and decent citizens will no longer stand for this outrage. 
 
Professional events planners and organizers, as well as security providers, vendors, non-governmental organizations, and S.A participants, will join with CIFKIDS president and founder, Margot Hyland, for this event. Margot is uniquely qualified to spearhead the protest, as a victim of brutal rape herself while growing up in South Africa many years ago, and also as the leader of Catherine’s Inspiration for Kids, (www.cifkids.org), which supports a temporary orphanage, education, victims, and outreach efforts to provide direct assistance to those most impacted by the violence. 
 
Catherine Hyland, Margot’s mother, who passed away in 2003, worked with these kinds of victims for almost twenty years, and provides the inspiration to continue those efforts through CIFKIDS. 
     

Licensing and permit applications for the march will begin soon. Margot is making a documentary film about the issue, and is visiting Africa to meet with supporters and volunteers. The word will go out in South Africa and beyond on radio and TV outlets, as Margot creates action-teams, and street-level, word-of-mouth activism on the issue, and is brought to churches, universities, high schools, and the general population for face-to-face discussions. In the U.S., a coalition of Black Churches will be approached for help, and sponsorship packages are being prepared for large corporate donors. Media supporters include journalist Carol Williams, a writer for the Philadelphia Observer and radio-host on the Internet’s Africa Radio Net. 
 
There are numerous ways you can help. For information on these opportunities and for more details:

e-mail info@cifkids.org or

call by Telephone: 610-828-6761 or Toll Free: 877-243-5542 (877-CIFK-LIA) or

write us at:

Catherine’s Inspiration for Kids 
3014 Crescent Avenue

Lafayette Hill, PA 19444

USA

 

Helping the children of South Africa impacted by brutal rape, and young women who are also abused, is something the world cannot ignore. Your help and participation is needed now to take a stand for the most basic rights of people who cannot defend themselves. It is our hope that you will join Margot and millions of others who feel the same way.