“I’m a community champion, I’m a community leader, I’m a gender champion”

Kora Catherine is the coordinator for Deaf Women Included (DWI) in Guruve, Zimbabwe. She is currently leading the build of a safe shelter for disabled survivors of violence, a project that DWI are using their Strategic Partner Support Grant for.  

Being a community leader for women and girls

“I first started working as a coordinator with Deaf Women Included in 2020. In my role, I work with the community and I also work with the Ward Chief. In my day-to-day, I travel around the 24 Wards in Guruve and I meet many survivors of different types of violence and abuse. This is how most of my time is spent.” 

Cathy path into this work, began with her own life experience.     

“Personally, I am a survivor of rape and gender-based violence. So, this is why my passion is to work with women and young girls. I advocate for women’s rights and children’s rights and this is what pushed me to work with Deaf Women Included. I work with every woman and all young girls.”  

Cathy receives referrals for women and girls needing support from a range of organisations and groups. 

“In Guruve, we work with so many organisations. I’m a community champion, I’m a community leader, I’m a gender champion. Daily, I stand up in front of people telling them to report abuse and most of the time I give them my example. I tell them I’m a rape survivor, I’m a survivor of gender-based violence. Most of the time I tell them to break the silence and to report the cases. So, whenever I stand up in front of people, at the end of the day, they call me, they tell me their issue, I push for it. When I go to the community, I ask, to those who will just be silent, for them to break the silence and report the issues.” 

Building a safe shelter

As part of her role, Cathy is leading the build of a safe shelter for disabled women and girls who are survivors of and fleeing violence. At present, there are no other safe shelters for survivors of gender-based violence in Guruve. Women and girls who need safety and solace, have to travel, often long distances to find it.  

“This place is very quiet. Most of the time when we meet our survivors, we need a quiet place, free from people. This place, I see as very safe. There are very few houses nearby. The council has said this is going to be a shelter in an environment that is free from abuses and noise. That’s why we decided to come to this place hoping that we can also occupy this land. When we have young girls or women who come to this place, they won’t have any problems.” 

Cathy has been cultivating a garden to create a space for learning and growth for the future residents. 

“We have already started the garden. When we get more resources and more water, we can fill the whole space with gardens – either we plant maize, bananas or many things. This is so that when the girls come they occupy themselves doing different types of projects at this place so that they free their mind.  

We’re hoping that when a girl or woman is here, she can learn many things. It’s either gardening, poultry, or sewing. That will make the whole thing very different to being at home because most women, just because of patriarchy, they hardly work. The husband just says, ‘you stay home’, but then also doesn’t provide for the family, so it becomes a challenge. When the shelter is complete, we will have so many projects going on, and residents can learn many skills at this place.”  

Expertise and care for her community

In Guruve, rates of gender-based violence are very high. 

“Every day, we receive many cases. Every stakeholder, including the local authority, is fighting for and lobbying for a safe shelter to be available. Because we have so many cases that go to court. We end up losing the cases because the survivor is put under too much pressure or they are scared of what can happen to them. At least if they are at the shelter instead, it will be better and they won’t be disturbed. So many people are hoping the shelter finishes early so that people get the help easily.” 

The shelter will initially have capacity to accommodate 12 women and girls, with Cathy and one other team member there as the support system. Cathy hopes that in the future, they will be able to accommodate many more. Until then, she will continue to lead the build of this first-of-its-kind sanctuary for survivors in Guruve, with love, care and expertise.