Rape is not a a joke, and some of the consequences is the mental and emotional destabilization the victim encounters through out their lives. It comes with lot of trauma and depression for most, and may lead to an even greater act of suicide.
Such is the case of Catherine Njeri, a 32 year old former University of Nairobi student. It was an emotional moment in the hot 96 studios when she revealed that she had slept with over 100 men and lost her virginity in a rape scenario.
The young lady confessed trying to commit suicide 5 times after being raped by a colleague during her second year at the final semester. The whole incident set her off on a downward spiral as she felt that she had been robbed off a gift that she had saved for marriage.
Catherine shared details of her hedonistic lifestyle and admitted to sleeping with more than 100 men and at times she would sleep with one or two men per day. “In a week I only spent 2-3 nights in my campus room. I was ‘a don’t care’, I never gave a damn… I never gave a damn as I was like what’s there in life that I have never seen?”
She continued trading sex for money as in her mind she preferred contracting HIV/AIDS from selling her body rather than from someone forcing themselves onto her.
“I felt I would rather be positive when someone has paid me than when someone has forced himself on me,” she said.
Apart from working as a twilight girl, Catherine also confessed that she got into the pornographic industry but became a laughing stock after her schoolmates got their hands on her blue videos. After a particularly humiliating incident in class a week after her pornographic video was circulated in the school, she walked out of class and jumped into traffic hoping to be hit by oncoming cars and die. This was one just one of her 5 suicide attempts.
Catherine believes that she embarked on this dangerous journey because she didn’t seek help after getting raped, the first time by her colleague and the second time by their farm hand who sneaked into their bathroom while she was showering. “I never spoke and never sought help,” Catherine said explaining why her life turned out the way it did.
Lucky for her, she didn’t contract HIV/AIDS and has now dedicated her life to people like her who have suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts.