‘Bear’ necessities for little people

Although men are also subjected to sexual violence, and according to statistics 3,5% have been victims of rape by the same sex, the majority is against women and children.

It is absolutely terrifying to see the statistics of child and baby rape in South Africa. Currently, our country has some of the highest occurrences thereof. In one of the last statistics this reporter could find on the internet, in a report conducted in 2001 by the SAPS, children were the victims of 41% of all rape cases reported. One report states that during 2001, reported cases amounted to 24 892. According to a trade-union report, it happens to a child every three minutes.

Fortunately there are organisations that care. The Greater Rape Intervention Project (GRIP) in Nelspruit is one such a group made up of people who offer compassionate support, counselling and rehabilitation to all survivors of rape and sexual assault as well as victims of domestic violence.
Sine 2000, the 26 GRIP care rooms which are situated at certain hospitals, courts and police stations, including Barberton SAPS, have already served over 30 000 survivors ranging from four to over 80 years old.

The young victims who end up at care rooms are very traumatised and GRIP counsellors do everything in their power to ease their young minds, make them feel as comfortable and safe as possible and divert their attention away from the incident. Many of them arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs. For a young victim it can be very reassuring to have a soft toy to cuddle with during the hours that follow. This might be the first soft toy they ever own and they become very attached to it.
Throughout the ages, teddy bears have become synonymous with children. GRIP has seen the need for these youngsters to have something real to hold onto and from all over, women have taken up their knitting needles to make teddies for them.

Barberton has its own teddy maker whose knitting needles are never left for too long. Barberton Times recently met up with Daleen Bothma, an elderly resident of BOBS and this is the third year she has been knitting bears for GRIP. She can’t recall how many she knitted during her first year, but during the last two she made roughly 20. These are collected by Barbara Kenyon and taken to the Nelspruit branch situated at 17 Ehmke Street.
Daleen says she got involved when another senior citizen, Vivien Swan gave her a knitting pattern for bears.

Although she is an avid needle worker and loves making jerseys and men’s socks, she never had a fondness of making toys, even when her children were small. Once the bug bit her though, there was no turning back. Before long she also adjusted the pattern as the original one held no more challenge for her. “Every bear is different, even though the patterns are similar. Some are overly friendly, while others look serious or sad. If my bears can make a difference in only a few children’s lives, I am happy. No child deserves to go through what these little ones do.”

Should anyone in Barberton want to sponsor wool, please don’t hesitate to drop it off at the BOBS Centre.

GRIP is a non-profit organisation and as such is dependent on donations.
Enquiries: 013-752-4404 / 013-752-5993.
Barbertonians can also visit the centre at the local police station to find out what they need in order to make the lives of rape victims easier.