Brutal dad rapes 4-year-old daughter

A SIX-YEAR-OLD survivor of sexual abuse from Epworth gave a chilling testimony of how her father allegedly raped her on countless occasions for two years.

The young girl, who is now in the custody of a children's home somewhere out of Harare, said her father( name withheld) started raping her when she was just four years old.

Her testimony brought tears to invited guests at the Women as Role Models (WARM) fundraising dinner where various speakers also spoke about women empowerment.

There were testimonials from girls who have been sexually abused by close relatives, abused because they have no one else who is capable of taking care of them. Speaker after speaker chronicled their long roads to success, urging girls to value education and to also believe in what they want to do.

Guest speaker Monica Kanyepi, who is also chief executive officer of Zimbuild, spoke about how women empowerment was of paramount importance if women were to realise independent economically in their own right. She encouraged successful women to always have a heart for the underprivileged girl child.

"It will be wishful thinking to imagine that a family will let the girl child go to school simply because her school fees have been paid when there is no food in the house," Kanyepi said.