The 21-22 June 2017 Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children (VAC) in All Care Settings was the second in a series of regional consultations focused on engaging experts within the region to collaborate, share learning, and formulate a set of regional recommendations for key actors to effectively address violence against children within all care settings, especially within alternative care.
This document includes the keynote address given on the first day of the expert consultation by Ms. Ruth Wacuka, a careleaver and member of Kenya Society of Careleavers. In her address, Ms. Wacuka describes the nature and repercussions of violence against children in care by offering her own story as a critical reminder to understand this issue by taking the perspective of children and young adults who have experienced it themselves.
If no one had acted to improve my situation, I could still be mingling with rats which was the order of the day, scabies on me and so much more. Believe me, as someone who has survived violence, it never leaves you the same. The repercussions are grave and damaging. However, I am not what I went through: I am the courage that escaped, the spark that lit the fire as so many child survivors are.
