CNN Hero Betty Makoni Speaks to USC Students

Betty Makoni, 2009 CNN Hero for the protection of the powerless, spoke to a select group of students Thursday morning. It was the only high school she spoke to during her trip to Pittsburgh.

During two 45-minute assemblies organized by teacher Tanya Chothani, Makoni spoke to students about her own experiences with domestic violence and rape as a young child and how she overcame the obstacles to protect other young women throughout Africa.

“It’s always good to come to a school to see students who are so eager to learn, who are bright and beautiful, and who have a vision,” she said when she stepped up to the podium following an introduction by USC senior, Alex LeClaire. 

Makoni’s personal story is powerful: The daughter of a mother who was a twin, taboo in Zimbabwe, Makoni’s mother had to flee her small village to marry in the city. Makoni’s father abused her mother for years, eventually beating her to death in front of Makoni, who at age nine, then assumed responsibility for her younger siblings. 

Before her mother died, Makoni took to the streets selling vegetables to help support her family. A young child alone on the streets of Zimbabwe was not safe, and one day, Makoni and a number of other young girls were raped. Makoni told her mother who refused to talk about it further and concealed the rape from others, for fear that their family would be scorned.

“I was really angry as a child,” Makoni said. “I wanted the man who raped me to be punished.” But nothing came of it.

She started to believe that her justice for the abuses she suffered would come in the form of her future successes. 

“I wanted to be someone,” she said. “Someone people would call by a name.”

Makoni realized that her only hope for success was through education. She applied to school, but had no money to pay the expensive fees. She was invited to interview for a scholarship position, and after a struggle just to get to the interview, she scored at the top of the 3,000 other students taking the scholarship exam.

During the holidays, Makoni cleaned school facilities to pay for her additional expenses.

She spoke of the joys of her education, particularly her love of language: “I wanted to read the book until it ran away from me… I wanted to show the book that I am the woman!”

She vowed as a high school student that when she finished her education, she would make a difference in other girls’ lives. 

“I wanted to open my doors to every opportunity in the world so I could better the lives of other children,” she said.

She went on to attend the University of Zimbabwe and earned a degree in Linguistics—both in English and her traditional language. She was sent back into her community to teach.

She noticed that girls weren’t coming to school. The year would start with fifty female students, and by the middle of the year, she would have eight that were coming regularly. She began attempting to track them down, going to their homes and fighting for their educations, and found that a number of factors were keeping her students from school—oftentimes rapes and pregnancies. 

Through her knowledge gained as a teacher, she founded the Girl Child Network in 1998, which has since served over 300,000 girls in various parts of Africa, including her home country of Zimbabwe. The Girl Child Network offers four programs:

1. Girls Empowerment Clubs meet weekly and provide a space for school-aged girls to talk about the challenges that they face and possible solutions to those challenges. More than 70,000 girls are currently involved throughout Africa.
2. Girls at Risk Support Units provide counseling for girls and women affected by rape and violence, and also help with financial expenses, such as school fees.
3. The advocacy component studies laws that affect girls and addresses these laws with policy makers in the hopes of affecting change.
4. The community development and empowerment program connects parents, teachers and the government to create a community aware of and fighing against these problems of rape and violence.

Makoni left the students with some words of advice: “There is nothing in life that liberates you like education. Make use of your teachers.  Make use of your ballpoint pen…use it to write. Make use of your computers. You are really, really honored by your parents and government who provide you with these basics…Use them.”

“Start thinking, 'What is it I can do?' You are presented with the opportunity to change the world,” she concluded, to a round of enthusiastic applause.

Ms. Makoni is in town to speak at a University of Pittsburgh sponsored international conference, Silent No More: Rape as a Weapon of Political Violence.

Makoni and her Girl Child Network showed the award-winning documentary Thursday night. All proceeds will benefit the Girls Empowerment Villages.