Healing the Wounds of Trauma

Lesson 5 HOW CAN WE HELP SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN RAPED?

1. Two stories about rape Choose the story that would be most appropriate in your context.

Helen loses her innocence Helen was a nine-year-old girl with a large extended family. Every Sunday after church, Helen and her family headed to her grandma’s house where she met with aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives, to have dinner together. One Sunday, one of Helen’s uncles invited her to a room upstairs. He put lipstick on her as well as perfumes and creams. That day she experienced sensual caresses for the first time and a new “game” that her innocent body did not understand. This secret game became a habit every Sunday. Then one Sunday, there was no game. As soon as her uncle got her in the room, he raped her, not once but many times, taking away with this act all the innocence she had left. Silent tears of pain ran down Helen’s cheeks, but she didn’t tell anyone what had happened. That was the first of many incidents that followed, week after week. And Helen’s uncle was not the only one. After six months, her grandfather began to sexually abuse her as well. Helen began to lose interest in studying. She spent long hours sitting in her room alone. She didn’t want to eat. She had nightmares and frequent urinary infections. Nobody in the family understood why she did not want to go to Grandma’s house anymore, or why, when she heard a belt unbuckle, she wet her pants. One day, Helen told her older sister what was going on, but her sister told her she should not tell anyone about it. She reminded

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How Can We Help Someone Who Has Been Raped?