Kentse Badirwang is 42 years old and was born in Mafikeng.
If she had to use a traffic light to rate our democracy, she would definitely choose the colour red.
With the way things are going on in the country, corruption erupting everywhere, Badirwang definitely feels that the country is headed towards dangerous times because as hings are going on, she does not think there’ll be many investors interested in investing in the country.
Kentse experienced her first rape when she was 14 years old. She decided to run away from home and go live in Johannesburg. She says the life that she lived there introduced her to a whole lot of bad things.
Struggling for many years with the trauma, Kentse decided to change her life and to rather focus on helping young girls.
“Currently I’m an author of a book called Kattey’s Arrow—Cruel Journey to her Purpose, which is a reflection of my life, living as a multiple rape survivor. So, I’m using this book to motivate kids in schools, to motivate women who might have gone through similar experiences,” says Kentse.
Kentse is also a founding member of an organisation called Pelegi Movement, which advocates for the rights of women and children. It has various programs that support victims of rape and gender based violence as a whole.
Joyce Badirwang, Kentse’s mother lives in Setumo Park. She says her child is a person who likes helping other people, especially rape victims.
She says sometimes Kentse does not have money and calls her at night then she is forced to give her money.
“How do I benefit from government? I have been getting support from the private sector and individuals. So, to this date, I don’t think I have benefited the way I was supposed to, as a person who supports government to fight gender based violence related issues,” says Joyce.
Joyce says all she ever sees within these 25 years is people protesting every five minutes, poor administration in communities. She says the education system is not as good as the one that she knew in the former Bophuthatswana.
‘’My hopes and visions and dreams for South Africa, is to see our government focusing more on the empowerment of youth, women and children.”
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