MISSION FLYING IN AFRICA - THE BEST AND WORST OF HUMANITY

Child rape is tragically all too common in places like South Sudan where justice isn't often delivered. Mission Aviation Fellowship comes to the rescue.

- JILL VINE

ANYONE WHO IS A PARENT, sibling, grandparent, aunt or uncle would find it hard to imagine how it would feel if our 8-year-old daughter, granddaughter, sister or niece was violated by a man who left her with permanent lacerations. Grace (not her real name), an 8-year-old girl, was left with a double rectal and urinary fistula after being raped in South Sudan in September 2021.

Her family agreed to share their story in order to raise awareness about these atrocities and the great work being done by missionary pilots in Africa.

The perpetrator has been thankfully put behind bars and is awaiting trial.

The medical consultant in Juba, who first brought attention to Grace's situation reported, 'The girl is traumatized and she needs two treatments. If she isn't treated this could become life-threatening and the child is already living a miserable life.'

The consultant appealed to the public to help raise funds for her surgery. His appeal triggered hearts to move quickly to save her life. James, a UN trained midwife, sent the appeal link to Angela Gorman from Life for African Mothers. Angela recalled, "The story played on my mind all day, Suddenly I remembered the incredible work of Nobel Peace Prize Winner, I Dr Mukwege who provides fistula surgery for women in EDRC. I still cry when I watch his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. So, I wrote a brief email to him, telling him that he was the first and only person I thought of who could help.