You South Africa

IF THE FISTS ARE FLYING DURING LOCKDOWN . . .

‘It was a secret I wrapped in shame and self-blame, stuck together with the denial I twisted around our violence, with a shiny bow of hope on top’

FOR years she was trapped in her own private hell – a relentless cycle of domestic abuse where everything and anything could lead to violence.

And now, during lock-down, Cape Town-based writer Cathy Park Kelly knows many women are going through what she endured for years.

The statistics speak for themselves: in the first three weeks of lockdown, the government’s gender-based violence and femicide command centre received more than 120 000 calls to its national helpline.

That’s double the usual volume of calls.

Here, Cathy

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