In a country like Ethiopia where speaking about sex is a taboo and sexual violence, including rape, even more, it is rare to find parents who will openly discuss both subjects with their children. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, gruesome details were coming out of kids who had had to stay home with their predators due to schools being closed. A staggering number of children were being taken to hospitals and the stories that were being told had outraged the nation. Kelel

Although the #Metoo movement, was coined and started by the activist Tarana Burke, it reached its peak and got a full force tie to Hollywood to show what goes on behind the scenes. The movement has proved the undeniable fact that sexual harassment transcends different cultures, societies and socioeconomic statuses. People of all ages, races, gender and socioeconomic status are faced with gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual harassment on the daily. Sexual harassme

#MeTooEthiopia was recently covered by The Reporter Ethiopia. Here is the full article below. Tiemert Shimelis is one of the founders of an Ethiopian movement - #MeTooEthiopia - geared towards fighting gender-based violence among Ethiopians. This new effort is an offspring of @ShadesOfInjera, an Instagram account that has hosted important discussions on vital social issues for the last seven years. Tiemert recently held discussions with The Reporter’s Samuel Getachew on the m

After “Surviving R. Kelly,” the three-part Lifetime documentary that documented the disgraced R&B star’s decades-long alleged abuse, the #MeToo movement is reverberating from the U.S. to Ethiopia, where the country is reckoning with sexual violence. The 53-year-old singer was charged in February with aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17. Kelly has also been accused of keeping women against their wills in an abu

I  have been following this page since it was created. Reading the stories of survivors has offered me great relief and a sense of solidarity. Our communities are in need of that. Although I have never imagined sharing my story on such a scale, I feel as though I am now. I was only a child when I experienced sexual violence at the hands of my father, uncle and family friend. My father molested me for years, beginning at the age of three until I was ten years old. The uncle an

I was about EIGHT when I started taking piano classes, on weekends when I could and three times a week in the summer. I took classes for about three years, by a personal trainer that would come home. At first it was great, I was actually pretty good at it. I have always been a music lover. I had a teacher in his mid-forties (if my memory serves right), he was a very kind and gentle man. He was average height, with gray hair in his beard, and looked like the typical Ethiopian

Recently, we’ve been hearing about sexual assault quite a lot. Every day, there seems to be a new case of sexual misconduct. So, what exactly is sexual misconduct and is it really that common? The simplest answer is sexual misconduct is any and all forms of unwanted sexual advances against someone and yes, it is way more common than we think. Sexual assault happens right under our roof, at our schools, at work, at our place of worship, in the streets, in the woods, and basica

Theses stories voiced by volunteers, use the words of survivors of sexual assaults within the Ethiopian communities committed by people who know them. Video Credit goes to: Voiceovers: Melat (@Melatopia), Samira Abdalla (@semiye_a), Betelhem Demissie (@Sherlock_Leonardo), Lidya Ayenew (@lidyageta99), Kine Afework (@kine_Afework), Sihine Negede (@Sihine), Emmanuel Oletho (@Emanthewarrior), Andu Kidane (@andu_k), Solomon Ayalew(atse_solo), Yemariam Sissay @yemariam.sissay, Redi

It is heartbreaking that in 2019 sexual assault still remains to be one of the least reported and prosecuted crime in the world, especially in developing countries like ours – Ethiopia. But before we get to discussing the statistics, the reasoning, and what can be done to change this sad fact, it is important to lay in concrete what sexual assault is to avoid any confusion. According to Mariam Webster dictionary sexual assault is defined as “[any] illegal sexual contact that