A whole lot of heart

“My childhood was very bad, very horrible. My mother went through domestic violence from the day I was conceived.” So begins Betty Makoni’s life story. But not only did she refuse to become a victim, she resolved to improve the lives of all girls in her native Zimbabwe, where extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS are widespread. For girls and women, the situation is especially dire. The traditional belief that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS leads to the rape of many young girls. Early marriage and sexual exploitation are common. At age 6, Makoni herself was raped. Three years later, her father killed her mother.

Makoni’s response was to found the Girl-Child Network, which empowers and educates girls, pays their school fees and offers legal support for victims of abuse and violence. In addition to a network of girls’ clubs that, in Makoni’s words, provides “a space where, in terms of gender, everyone is equal,” the group operates “safe villages” where victims of abuse and sexual violence can get help, and heal.

So far, Makoni and the Girl-Child Network have helped some 500,000 girls. The organization is one of the few things going right in politically and economically troubled Zimbabwe, where rapists are now sentenced to life in jail, and virginity testing and genital mutilation are banned. Says Makoni, who in April received the Ginetta Sagan Award for Women’s and Children’s Rights from Amnesty International USA: “It’s interesting what you can do without a lot of money, but with a lot of heart.”