CHILDLINE’S COUNSELLING SERVICES FOR SURVIVORS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN ZIMBABWE: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY by JULLIET MASAMA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Psychology at the University of South Africa Supervisor: Mr Khuze G. Skosana August 2014 DECLARATION I declare that Childline’s counselling services for survivors of child sexual abuse in Zimbabwe: A descriptive study is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. 01 AUGUST 2014 ................................................................................ ...................................... SIGNATURE DATE J. MASAMA Student number: 42955963 i DEDICATIONS This research study is dedicated to my husband, Jan Van Ongevalle, and our three children, Bram Tawana, Tine Lana and Yara Tamuda. I also dedicate it to my parents, Austin K. Masama and Esther Masama. Thank you all for being there for me every time I needed you. You have offered me the support, strength and encouragement I needed during the difficult periods of the execution of this study. Jan, you provided me with a shoulder to lean on. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help, support and encouragement of a number of people, this dissertation would not have been completed. I have gone through difficult times during the course of this study but I remained guided and energised to consider the importance of finishing it. I am very grateful for having accomplished this study, which enlightened me regarding the experiences of children and families affected by child sexual abuse and the types of services which child survivors of sexual abuse need. I would therefore like to extend my sincere gratitude to the following people: My supervisor – Mr K. G. Skosana, you have been my pillar of support. You provided me with knowledge. Your guidance in this study is well appreciated. Without it, I would not have acquired such a big step in my life. Throughout the study period, you emphasised to me the need to continue studying. You gave me advice and wisdom to become who I am today. My family – Jan, you helped me in many ways. You advised and linked me to different literature sources. You took care of our three children, Bram Tawana, Tine Lana and our last child Yara Tamuda who was born while I pursued this study. You gave me the space to study and I sacrificed a lot of our family life. Thank you for your love and support. My parents – Austin and Esther Masama and my siblings, some of you were my role models. You provided me with emotional support and encouraged me when I felt very low. Now you can all witness my achievements. Lastly, my late grandmother, you have been so supportive, I wish you could have witnessed my accomplishments. May your soul rest in eternal peace. Childline staff members – for the assistance and support you gave me. With special thank you to the counsellors/social workers who were willing to share with me their work experiences. You inducted me into the organisation and I learnt a lot from you. Thank you all for the good work you are doing for the innocent children survivors of child sexual abuse in Zimbabwe. Tara, you were so supportive, as a director of Childline Zimbabwe, you gave me the space to study. You allowed me to come to you to discuss my study. You shared your expertise, advised and encouraged me to do this study. Thank you to my counselling supervisors, Dr Jonathan Brakarsh and Dr Dickson Chibanda, you guided me in the preliminary stages of this study. Through your valuable input, I acquired the necessary steps to commence this study. iii All the research participants – it was your voluntary participation that made this study a success. My sincere gratitude goes to all the child survivors of child sexual abuse and their caregivers for their support and effort. It was amazing that you were all willing to share your personal, sensitive and emotional information with me throughout this study. I thank you for the trust you put in me. You are heroes and heroines for you are the very few survivors who had the opportunity to contribute your traumatic experiences in an effort to help the suppressed millions of child survivors to come up and express their rights. ----- To all of you ------ Thank you very much iv SEXUAL MOLESTATION OF Jairos started asking the children to come BOY CHILDREN to his cottage on regular basis. Together they would watch TV while they all Daryn is 9 years old. Mukai is 10 years smoked marijuana. After each drug use old. The two boys are cousins. Daryn’s Jairos would engage the two boys in mother is sister to Mukai’s father. Ever sexual activity (sodomy). since they were toddlers, the two boys Jairos also showed the boys a big knife have been taken care of by their that he kept under his bed. He told Daryn grandparents (Mr and Mrs Magotcha) who and Mukai that he would cut off their lived in a low-density suburb of Harare. heads if they ever disclosed their sexual The two boys grew up together with their involvement with him. grandparents and both boys are maternal Jairos sometimes gave the boys a little bit orphans. of money for buying sweets after school. Jairos was a tenant at the Magotchas’ The children were abused for several house and lived in a smaller cottage built times but they thought it was normal to do on the premises. Jairos was a member of that. the Apostolic Faith religious sect. He When Jairos visited his rural home for a mostly lived alone in Harare since his two few weeks, the boys engaged in sexual wives stayed in his rural home doing acts with each other. Due to the children’s subsistence farming. rampant mischief that included stealing, Daryn and Mukai had known Jairos ever being absent from school and being since they came to live with their stubborn at home and at school, the grandparents. grandparents questioned them but the The grandparents regarded Jairos as their boys would just keep quite. own son since he had stayed with them After some time of increasing mischief, the for a very long time. The boys would also grandmother beat them up heavily one occasionally bring food to Jairos’ cottage day and that was the time when they where they would remain for a while disclosed that they were sexually abused watching TV then bringing the plates back by Jairos. to their grandmother after Jairos had (Daryn and Mukai, Childline Zimbabwe finished eating. clients, 13 March 2009). v ABSTRACT This study explored Childline Zimbabwe’s provision of psychosocial support to sexually abused children. This was done by reviewing counsellors’ practices regarding face-to-face counselling, counselling approaches, referrals, follow-ups, case recording and through measuring client satisfaction levels. A qualitative case study approach was adopted with mixed methods to collect data from counsellors and clients. Data analysis was informed by grounded theory and followed an inductive process of coding and categorising the data into relevant themes. The outcomes of this study showed that referral of clients represents a major strategy of addressing child sexual abuse cases. The engagement of clients in face-to-face counselling stages however remained limited due to difficult work environments and challenges related to individual counsellors’ capacities. This posed questions about Childline’s role as a counselling or referral organisation. This study contributes to counselling of sexually abused children with information over the counselling interventions necessary in addressing survivors of sexual abuse. KEY WORDS: child, child sexual abuse (CSA), Childline Zimbabwe, counselling and counselling services vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ................................................................................................................................ i Dedication ................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. iii Abstract ................................................................................................................................... vi Table of contents .................................................................................................................... vii List of tables .......................................................................................................................... xiii List of figures ......................................................................................................................... xiv List of appendices .................................................................................................................. xv Abbreviations and acronyms ................................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER 1 CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE – AN INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS ...................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Child ............................................................................................................................ 3 1.2.2 Child sexual abuse (CSA) ...........................................................................................