Monica Clarke-Bennett

Throughout our Fall Fundraiser we have been sharing stories about how some of the projects we support got started. Below you can read Monica Clarke-Bennett’s story of I Protect Me and how it began in South Africa just a few years ago. 

In Cape Town, South Africa on February 2, 2013, a seventeen year old girl was brutally gang raped and murdered. Sadly, gender-based violence in South Africa is widespread.

Monica Clarke-Bennett, feeling she needed to take action, wrote articles to local newspapers expressing her distress. Monica had always been deeply affected by stories of abuse of women and children, in part because she herself suffered abuse as a young woman. She knew first-hand the powerlessness felt by abused women; they endure their suffering silently, afraid to expose their abuser, afraid of the stigma brought upon their family if they speak out. Although she didn’t yet have a specific plan of action, Monica wrote in her articles that the only way to break the cycle of violence was to start with children and empower them while still young.

One of her articles was read by someone traveling on an overnight flight from USA to Kenya. This person was so moved by what they read that upon landing they immediately got in touch with an individual they knew in Nairobi who taught Sexual Violence Prevention in local schools. That same morning, Monica received an email inviting her to Kenya to be trained by their organization, Dolphin Anti-Rape and AIDS Awareness Outreach (see the Dolphin YouTube video here).

Upon learning of her intention to start up a project, Susila Dharma France offered to pay her airfare to Kenya. Monica traveled to Nairobi a short time later and visited schools where Dolphin’s curriculum was being taught. “I saw them give 2-hour sessions to three groups of about 500 primary school children who, with song, dance and repetition learnt lessons such as ‘Nobody has the right to touch my private parts,’ while each child with exaggeration touched their own private parts between whoops of laughter whilst dancing — and I could see the lesson sink in like water into dry sand.” Monica immediately knew that curriculum was exactly what she needed to bring to South Africa.

Thanks to the generosity of several Subud members, she was able to secure sponsorship for airfares for a team from Nairobi, Kenya to travel to South Africa and train 12 volunteers (Dolphin conducted their training for no fee). Once the first group of Sexual Violence Prevention Workers in South Africa was trained, they were ready to start sharing their message with children!

I Protect Me, as the new organization was named, was registered and launched as a NPO (non-profit organization) in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2014. They began leading trainings in local primary schools at that time. Their program consists of 10 lessons teaching both boys and girls that they have the power to resist abuse by setting their own boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others. Children are taught to protect themselves without using any weapons: “Use your voice, free yourself & run!” The trained Prevention Workers also train and supervise volunteer Peer Trainers age 16 and older, who then give sessions to even more children. They began giving training in primary schools and have since expanded to work in high schools as well. Monica estimates that to date I Protect Me has reached over 10,000 children and adults. Although challenges have been a constant — from needing more funds to retain staff, to dealing with the realities of drugs and gangs — through it all they have persevered, the program has gained widespread acclaim in the community and continues to grow.

Monica credits the success of I Protect Me to the latihan. Again and again, support for her project has come from unexpected people and places. She encourages all Subud members to follow our Inner Guidance; every one of us has the power to create change once we let go of our fears and doubts. Monica feels it isn’t she who is doing all the work of I Protect Me: “It’s being done. With the realization of our Inner Guidance, all we need to do is take the next step, then let this Power take over. It Really Does Work. I say this with 150% confidence!”

Learn more about I Protect Me on our website.