1.2. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS The children and families chronicled in this collection are real people. Their names have of course been changed to protect their identities. Their stories are real life stories that were brought to Justice for Children’s attention when they sought JCT’s intervention and assistance in navigating the justice system. They were thus identified through Justice for Children. They were then followed up and asked for their consent in recording these stories. Those who were willing were also videotaped and their stories are featured in an accompanying DVD. Those who were not comfortable with or able to tell their stories on camera have their stories included only in this booklet. The overarching aim of this project was to capture the experiences of the victims and their families and therefore the victims were allowed to tell their stories as they recalled them without undue interruption from the interviewer except where clarity was needed in which case it was sought. The challenge of course becomes the age of the child and her ability to both recall and relate the story. Where the child was not able to relate her entire story by herself, a parent or guardian then completed the narration and this is still captured in this collection . 1.2.1. STORY SELECTION There were few factors that influenced who were finally interviewed and these included the ability of JCT to trace the children or their families. It was not possible to trace all the children and therefore JCT had to work with those children and their families who could be traced. In one case, the child has since left home and her whereabouts are unknown but it was felt that her story highlighted some very important issues around the need for on-going psycho social support and counselling for the victim and her family that her story is included through her grandmother’s voice, even though she herself could not be found. JCT also sought to present a cross section of issues that victims face, hence stories show that violence can happen in the home, perpetrated by a close and trusted family member; or it can be experienced in the school environment, perpetrated by a trusted figure like a teacher; violence can also be experienced by the child in the wider community with or without the collusion of her family. Apart from showing where and how sexual violence against children can occur, the cases were also aimed at showing where and how challenges or problems were encountered. The testimonies captured in this collection show that challenges can include social and economic factors that make children vulnerable to sexual violence; social, economic and cultural factors that impede reporting; gender insensitive C attitudes and ignorance that impact negatively on the effective investigation and prosecution of cases as well as ineffective government response and support mechanisms that lead to failures in the support systems required by victims. 6 2