Activist: How I endured sexual abuse for seven years to get education

Oluwatoyin Falaiye, an activist, says she endured sexual abuse for years to get an education.

The activist, who founded the NGO Jewels Hive, shared her experinece with Chude Jideonwo, media entrepreneur.

She said her neigbour’s son initially raped her at age 10 and had his mother cover it up.

Falaiye said her foster father would proceed to sexually molest for seven years, shushing her with death threats.

She said she was told she would be put out of school and returned to her village if she spoke of it to anyone.

“I was a village girl. I was born in a small village in Akure. When I turned seven, my father brought me to Lagos to visit his elder sister. I saw a TV for the first time, even though it was black and white,” she said.

“When it was time for my father to return to the village, I put up and tantrum and said no wasn’t going back. My aunt who didn’t have a child not her own decided to adopt me. A year later, I started school.

“At the end of the year, I came top in class. At age 10, I was raped by a neighbour’s son. Because I was a village girl, I didn’t even know what it was to be called a virgin. I just felt that the boy had injured me.

“So the neighbour came in, scolded the boy, cleaned me up, told me not to tell anyone, and sent me away.

“Two years later, my adoptive father began to molest me. That went on night after night for seven years. The days I escaped were when I’d started to become a woman. I was menstruating, so I had off days from abuse.”

Falaiye said enduring sexual abuse was the price she had to pay to get educated.

“I was told not to tell anyone. I was told I would be sent back to the village where I would die after seven days. I didn’t want to die or go back to the village. I was going to a public school in Festac Town,” the activist said.

“Sexual abuse was the price I had to pay to get an education. It was killing me and I was dying slowly. I attempted my first suicide at 15.”