Maggie

Writing about incest is not something I find easy to do. However my dislike of the topic pales in comparison to actually having to live through that experience.

A sexual relationship between a father and one of his children has always been one of those issues that never blipped on my radar, at least until I moved to Kenya that is. Unfortunately we deal with incestuous situations all too often here. Sometimes it is men having sex with infants (yes I said infants) because they heard a myth that sex with a virgin will cure them of H.I.V. Infants are chosen to be sure she really is a virgin. All too often we hear stories of wives leaving an abusive husband, and in a demonstation of just how unvaluble children are, she leaves the kids with him. He then takes to sleeping with one of the daughters.

I wish I could say this was rare. Alas we run into it too many times to remain unaffected. 

Maggie is 14. Her father raped her. I don't know the circumstances, I have no idea what was going through his mind. I know that he raped her. (In fact he is currently in jail over the incident.)

Life decided that Maggie's father raping her just wasn't cruel enough. She got pregnant. Details are a little sketchy, as Maggie simply dosen't speak much, so I'm not sure how long she hid this little detail from her mom.

Eventually her mother found out about the growing baby inside of Maggie, and called home to talk to the relatives about what should be done.

The story gets worse at this point. Grandma advised mother to kill both Maggie and the baby, in order to get rid of the shame and sweep this whole problem under the rug. Since this is such a common occurance, the whole incest deal that is, they had some specific methods in mind which they heard worked well. 

So not only did her father violate her and left a lasting testament to that rape, but now her mom and grandmother want to kill her. Essentially Maggie is to die for simply being a girl. She had no other crime.

I'm not sure if we can feel good about the next part of the story or not, but this is the point where we come in.

Ben (works with us in loving the Maggies of Nakuru) saved Maggie from being poisoned and took her to a safe place. That safe place was his and Pauline's house.

We were able to find a place for the baby, as Maggie was unwilling to raise the child. I don't blame her, and thankfully the little baby girl should be able to grow up without this horror being put on her head.

Maggie will stay with Ben and Pauline at least a month after the birth to recover. We're not sure what will happen after that, but I'm sure a path will make itself known when the time is right.

 

P.S. Maggie gave birth today. At this writing all is well.