LONDON (ENGLAND)
Anglican Communion News Service
June 7, 2018
Survivors of abuse have been telling their stories to members of the Anglican Communion’s Safe Church Commission. The Commission was set up to promote the safety of people within churches of the Anglican Communion throughout the world, with a particular focus on children, young people and vulnerable adults. It met last month in South Africa to plan the next step of its work, and to meet with abuse survivors.
“Every time he would go to work I would just look through the window and just stand”, one survivor said as she recounted the abuse she had endured as a child. “Neighbours would see me and come close to the window and talk to me. I couldn’t speak it. I don’t know. . . even the word ‘help’ – I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know what to say. They want to reach out. They would ask me why I was not in school . . . but I can’t respond.”
Commission member Cleophas Lunga, the Bishop of Matabeleland, said that the Commission was “humbled” by the courage of the survivors who met with them. “In many cases, the stigma associated with such kind of stories makes it difficult for people to come out publicly, to tell their stories and to find ways as to how best that they can be helped. So the work of this Commission is quite important in that regard.”
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