Dear Supporter

We urgently need your support at this time. We have a waiting list of families who need our help and care, without your help they will suffer alone.

Like many child torture survivors, the physical and emotional consequences of torture denied Juliette the very thing she needed most when she first arrived here from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – the support, strength and sense of identity that only a close family unit can provide. Instead, at an age when she should have been moving confidently from childhood to adolescence, Juliette had a past she could neither face nor understand, and a future of terrifying uncertainty. This was an eleven year-old whose childhood had been brutally stolen in the most appalling circumstances. Her family was fragmented and disempowered, unable at first to even recognise Juliette. Together, they found their way to the Medical Foundation’s Family Therapy Team – the only professional service in the UK dedicated to providing the families of torture survivors with the practical and therapeutic help they need to move forward with their lives.

Juliette was separated from her mother and her immediate family when she was six. In the violent reprisals following the death of Congolese president Laurent Kabila, Juliette’s father disappeared as thousands were arrested and detained by government forces. His whereabouts today are unknown. Soon, attention turned to Juliette’s mother. Her restaurant was burned down and she was arrested at 4.00am and held without charge. She was repeatedly raped and beaten by her captors.

In the chaos of her mother’s arrest, Juliette was separated from her four brothers and sisters as she fled from the soldiers. She was found and taken in by her paternal Aunt and Uncle, devout members of a religious cult. At first, aside from the trauma of familial separation and the loss of her parents, Juliette was content. This changed profoundly when adversity hit her Aunt’s family in the form of an unexpected death. Juliette was declared ‘Kindoki’ – a witch – and was held directly responsible for everything bad that had befallen the family. And so began a spiral of systematic torture, alienation and abuse at the hands of Juliette’s family, sanctioned by the cult leaders.

For three years, Juliette suffered severe beatings all over her body. Repeated blows to her head left this terrified child deaf in one ear. When she failed to confess to being a witch she would be scalded with boiling water. Her flesh was cut and burning spices rubbed into the wounds. She was stabbed and lacerated with sharp objects, burned and branded by hot metal. Juliette’s world was one filled with pain, unheeded screams and pure fear. She was subjected to forced exorcisms and had toxic concoctions poured down her throat in the belief that this would make her vomit out the ‘evil spirits’.

She was denied any education and was worked to exhaustion in domestic drudgery. If she failed at a task, she would be starved and kicked. Towards the end of this period of unimaginable suffering, Juliette was living an almost feral existence, sleeping in the street and wishing on many occasions that she were dead. The very people to whom Juliette’s care had been entrusted had deliberately made her life unbearable – a vicious irony that Juliette remains incapable of resolving. She still fears and believes that her Aunt will one day come and take her back to DRC. Tragically, Juliette’s experience is far from unusual. Today, an estimated 30,000 children accused of being ‘Kindoki’ are living in terror and pain in DRC alone.

Juliette was eventually rescued by an old family friend who knew that her mother and siblings had managed to escape to the UK. She arrived in Britain in 2005. Although overwhelmed with surprise and delight to see her again, the family was unrecognisable from the one Juliette had last seen 5 years ago. Her older siblings were still in the DRC, missing or perhaps dead. Juliette’s sister Lauren was unsure that she was who she claimed to be and feared that her arrival might shatter the fragile bonds holding the family together. Juliette was introduced to her new brother, Olivier, and had to come to terms with his severe disability and the fact that he will need full-time care for the rest of his life.

Our work with Juliette and her family began, taking as a starting point the fact that the issues affecting the families of torture survivors cannot be treated separately. Everything is inextricably linked. So our help is holistic, inclusive and multi-faceted. The last thing fragmented families need is a disjointed care regime that mirrors this fragmentation. The Medical Foundation’s Family Therapy Team is unique in taking an approach that addresses overall need, not just isolated problems. It is complex and time consuming, requiring separate work with individuals and with the family as a whole. This complexity pushes our resources to the limit.

Today, we are slowly helping Juliette to understand and contextualise her experiences. Working with her love of art, and her willingness now to put her experiences into words, we are gradually gaining insights into her past and helping her and her family find the strength to regain control of their lives. Ours is intensive, difficult work that can, and often does, take many years to successfully rebuild broken lives, reinstate the confidence to move forward and help families come to terms with the effects of torture.

The vast majority of the Medical Foundation’s funding comes from individual supporters like you. The funds we receive from some outside sources have been cut year on year, and that is why we urgently need your help. Presently, each of our therapists works with up to 25 families. We are chronically under-resourced and battling an ever-lengthening waiting list but remain as committed as ever to work that makes the most profound difference to the quality of life experienced by individuals and families alike.

Your contribution is so important. Without it, we cannot carry on and individuals and families coping with the aftermath of torture will have nowhere – and no-one – to turn to.

Thank you for continuing to change for the better the lives of people who have experienced humanity at its very worst.

Jocelyn Avigad

Principal Family Therapist