..... from broken innocence to a healthy future
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In September 2004
I was on holiday with my husband, touring Spain and Portugal. We had
stopped for a day’s visit in the ancient and beautiful central
Portuguese city of Evora. On a very hot day and after much meandering I needed a break and sat in a shady café for a
cool drink whilst my husband ambled off to look at roofs – he is an
engineer and finds these things intrinsically interesting. It was
whilst in the cafe I spotted a UK tabloid newspaper and, although out of
date, I skimmed through and alighted on an article in the central
section. The article I read
was the story of Claudia Ford and her adopted daughter V; it told of V's
experience of having been sexually assaulted and severely damaged by 2
men when she was 5 months old. Details of V's
injuries were graphic and horrific. There was the account how Claudia
found V and then of how she fought [and fights everyday] to repair this
baby who was so comprehensively both broken and wounded, spiritually,
mentally and physically. The article described the story of how Claudia
has struggled to adopt V and give her a future from such an appalling
beginning, and the trust [1] Claudia has set-up to secure V's future.
The article also gave information on the numbers of infant rape in South
Africa but the compelling story of this one little girl stayed with me.
Sitting in the cafe in what appeared to be a safe placid city, watching
children play and thinking of my own children I knew that this time I
couldn't walk by on the other side I didn't take the
paper [only to regret this later when I had to try and track it down]
with me, nor did I mention it to my husband for several days. I have
subsequently learnt that for many people the enormity of what is
occurring takes a considerable time to sink in and process. But whilst
the newspaper was left behind on the table when I finished my drink the
story kept rattling around in my head, lurking in corners and wouldn’t
let go. Over the next weeks
I remembered Claudia’s full name and eventually tracked down the name of
the trust [1] she has set up; with a leap of faith I contacted Claudia
to explain my interest in helping in some way. She has been open, warm,
welcoming and encouraging from the moment she received an email from
this complete stranger. Since
then my research has established
that there is no UK based charity/NGO focusing on these very specific
issues of severe sexual assault against infants and small children. My
decision was that rather than undertaking work with a generic children's
charity, and hope that any money raised would reach the services I want
to help, I would set about setting up a new charity specifically for this
purpose. Nothing ventured ........... I contacted two ex- senior
colleagues and we are now joint trustees of this new charity, The initial start-up costs, resources, work and charitable funds have come from us. We are just beginning to start work helping and supporting organizations providing care and support for damaged and traumatized infants/children. We take a determined health perspective for several reasons:
Why start in South Africa? And I’ve been asked many times… ‘Why not in the UK or Europe when this happens everywhere?' Well.... In the experience of us all, there are very well developed child protection services in the UK and Europe and, although things go wrong, it is not to the same extent as elsewhere. We have to start somewhere, and my first contacts have been in South Africa both through Claudia and the other amazing people I have met working against sometimes insuperable odds and with such dedication.
How can we not
help?
Lesley Rudd
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| Registered Charity 1109244 |
| Registered Offices: the infant trust, CLB Gatwick LLP, Imperial Buildings, Victoria Road, Horley, Surrey RH6 7PZ. All rights reserved. |
