Betty Makoni is a 34-year-old African woman, a child abuse survivor, activist and founder of the Girl Child Network (GCN) in Zimbabwe, Africa. In 1998, Betty founded GCN to assist in the rescue of girls from rape and abuse and to create a strong path for them back to a normal life. The core focus of this non-profit is to create a total physical, emotional, and spiritual renewal for these girls as well as to eradicate all forms of abuse. Part of that mandate includes ensuring that girls return to school should they choose to.

The program has grown tremendously since its inception, with more than 30,000 girls across the country involved today. GCN uses a human rights-based approach to address gender inequalities in education and in all social, political and economic aspects of life. It is a community-based grassroots organization with several strategic programs, including educational training, advocacy and community development.

Filmmaker Michealene Cristini Risley is an American-born Caucasian woman who was also a victim of abuse. Risley and Makoni met in March 2007 in San Francisco where Makoni was speaking in support of International Women’s Day. After that serendipitous meeting, Michealene agreed to join Betty in Zimbabwe to get Betty’s story on film and out to the world.

Zimbabwe Today
It has been a long time since Robert Mugabe was thought of as a revolutionary hero who fought to end racist white minority rule in Zimbabwe. Since those lofty beginnings, corruption and syphilis have helped this fallen hero steer the country into poverty, huge inflation rates and economic ruin. It is hard to imagine how a once prosperous country—“the bread basket of Africa”—could slip so far, but President Mugabe has suppressed the will of the people since the rigged elections of 2000. Under his oppressive regime, Zimbabwe has become the number one AIDS-infected country in the world.

Traditional healers have long been part of the cultural nucleus of Zimbabwe. Revered and powerful, this group instills traditional values in its people. Since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, these healers have been counseling men that if they rape a virgin they will cure their AIDS. This directive is one of the leading causes of the increased spread of AIDS in the next two generations, as young girls who are raped get infected and transfer the disease to their newborns. Last year alone, a local non-governmental organization, or NGO, recorded 4,146 cases of sexual abuse against children in its relatively small area of operation.

The Film
Michealene and her crew traveled to Zimbabwe in 2007. Before she went there, Michealene could barely find Zimbabwe on the map, yet she endured 20 hours on airplanes in order to get there. The pull of the story was so strong that she left behind her own three children and her husband in order to follow it. In fact, the story held her hostage. She had to put to rest the demons of her own childhood abuse.

Betty showed the filmmaker and her assistant Lauren down the incredibly beautiful back roads of Zimbabwe. They witnessed many people struggling to find the necessities of life: food, shelter, and a way to move from place to place. Betty had asked Michealene to bring bottles of bubbles so that at the GCN village they could all witness the way the girls’ laughter helped heal everyone around them. And she did. She fell in love with Betty’s work and with the tenacious young girls who could still smile after having suffered so much.

The shoot was going incredibly well until the beginning of the second week. Betty, Michealene and Lauren were arrested by Zimbabwean Central Intelligence officers and taken to Harare police station. After two long days of threats and interrogation, Michealene and her assistant were thrown in prison.

Through the combined efforts of the United States embassy in Zimbabwe and the filmmaker’s husband back in the U.S., human rights lawyers were hired. On the third day, the filmmakers were escorted to an airplane and deported out of the country. Despite the obvious governmental disapproval, the team was more committed than ever to tell Betty’s story and to help her create global awareness of the rape and abuse of children.

Betty’s brilliance as a human rights strategist has helped the girls of the GCN heal rapidly from their wounds. Betty and Michealene’s friendship—their shared background, the shared lens with which they view these girls and their stories—is remarkable. Each woman has a different story, but each could relate to the same act: the violation, molestation and rape of young girls—an act both women are committed to eradicating.