Life for Tinashe was exceedingly hard as Tongai would force each of his wives to work long hours in the fields. Beatings would ensue if he suspected that she was not working as hard as she could. Alternatively he would deny her food as punishment for not working as hard as he wanted. Tinashe would sometimes run away home to her mother but her father always ordered her to go back to Tongai. Some years later, Tinashe fell pregnant and had a son. Tinashe describes her life as being hard and miserable. Life changed for Tinashe when her mother died and her maternal relatives came to her rescue. With their support, she was able to leave Tongai. Because she now had a son to support, Tinashe’s grandmother advised her to take her son to her father while she sought work and then once she was settled, she could then go back and get her son. Tinashe duly secured work as a domestic worker and thereafter she sought maintenance from Tongai, intending to use this money to secure accommodation for herself and her child while she worked in town. It was at this point that she discovered that her father had in fact sent her child to Tongai without her knowledge or consent. Tinashe then sought help from Justice for Children and in recounting her story, it emerged that Tinashe had clearly been a victim of forced child marriage. WHEN YOUR FAMILY BETRAYS YOU Tinashe feels her father and mother let her down and instead of protecting her, they contributed to her abuse. She is very bitter at being forced to leave school and feels the lack of education has hampered her options in life, confining her to life as an unskilled labourer all because her father decided to marry her off instead of giving her the opportunity to continue with her education. Talking to Tinashe, one clearly gets the sense that she is angry with her father for betraying her by marrying her off. At the moment, Tinashe is estranged from her family because she defied her father not only by leaving Tongai, but also because she has taken legal action against Tongai in claiming firstly custody and then maintenance. CHALLENGES FACED BY VICTIMS IN SEEKING TO NAVIGATE THE SYSTEM Tinashe’s story illustrates how girls can be caught at the intersection between culture, religious beliefs and practices and the law and how together these can subject them to multiple layers of violations. Among some Apostolic sects, forced early marriage of children is a practice that is rife. In this way, rape of children is condoned as a religious and cultural practice. A father can deny his daughter an education because of religious beliefs as happened in Tinashe’s case and this results in the child being condemned to a life of servitude due to reduced opportunities. When she eventually found information on how to begin to enforce some of her rights, Tinashe was told that due to the passage of time, the police would not launch any investigation into Tongai’s conduct. This is contrary to the guidance provided in the Protocol and has resulted in Tinashe feeling despondent. In addition to the difficulties she has encountered in seeking to pursue a criminal case, Tinashe has also had to contend with dealing with a very recalcitrant Tongai who has resisted cooperating in maintaining his minor child. Tongai has defaulted on paying maintenance and has sought to have Tinashe’s order overturned. While Tongai can afford the continuous legal battles, Tinashe can afford neither the money nor the time off from her job as a maid to continuously attend court cases. Suffice it to say navigating the legal sphere has been full of pitfalls for Tinashe. 27 23