The association · At the heart of Ebando
At the heart of Ebando lives a presence with no statutes and no register: a space where those who have endured sexual violence can, at last, speak with one another. A bond that cannot be explained, and that already begins to mend.
The scale
- 90%
- of sexual violence victims are women.
- Nearly1 in 2
- women have experienced physical violence in their lifetime in Gabon.
- 56%
- of women victims take no action after experiencing violence.
- 100+
- testimonies gathered by Ebando since its creation.
Sources: National Survey on Gender-Based Violence (Gabon, 2018, UNFPA); Demographic and Health Surveys of Gabon (2012, 2019-2021).
A documentary
When speech is set free.
Iboga brings buried trauma back to the surface. This documentary, supported by the Fonds d'Appui PISCCA of the French Embassy in Gabon, follows women who, after twenty or thirty years of silence, were finally able to speak.
Understanding through the initiation that they had been victims, and not guilty, they found the words. Why they spoke now, and not before, is a question the film leaves open.
Film supporters & partners
Documentary supported by the Fonds d'Appui PISCCA of the French Embassy in Gabon.
In connection with the Department of Psychology of Omar Bongo University.
The truth, first
You are the victim. Not the guilty one.
Shame belongs to the one who did it. Not to her, not to him who endured it. Many understood it during the initiation: what had been done to them had a name, and that name was not theirs.
I understood that I was the victim, and they were the monsters.
— Mivova y'ato, Women's Voices
A presence, not an institution
The Voices of the Survivors.
There are no statutes, no office, no list. There is a bond, born at the heart of Ebando, between women, men, and those who were abused as children, who recognise one another without having to explain.
The President and Tatayo, co-founder and executive secretary, watch over this space where words can move between those who have crossed the same night.
No one is required to speak. No one carries it alone.
The path
What the initiation brings back.
Iboga neither judges nor forgets. During the initiation, trauma buried since childhood resurfaces, sometimes after twenty or thirty years of silence. To see it, to name it, is to begin to move beyond it.
As Tatayo puts it: “it is the initiation to Iboga that brings back the trauma buried for so long”.
The scale, and a fragile retreat
What the figures say.
In Gabon, violence against women is receding, slowly. According to the Demographic and Health Surveys, over roughly a decade every major indicator has fallen.
- Physical violence endured over a lifetime: from 52% in 2012 to 45% in 2019-2021.
- Sexual violence: from around 22% to 15%.
- Intimate-partner violence, physical or sexual: from 54% to 37%.
Women aged 15 to 49 · Demographic and Health Surveys, 2012 → 2019-2021
The flip side
Over the same period, the share of women who seek help has itself dropped: 43% 28%. Fewer victims dare to speak than ten years ago. That decline is no good news.
A real retreat, then, but a fragile one. Nearly one woman in two is still affected, and nearly six victims in ten ask no one for anything. It is that silence Ebando tries to break.
Source: Demographic and Health Surveys of Gabon (DGS Gabon & DHS Program, 2012 and 2019-2021).
Breaking the silence
You are not alone, and you have rights.
Speaking does not heal everything, but silence protects the abuser, never the victim.
Since its creation, Ebando has gathered more than a hundred testimonies, from every walk of life. An ear, where there had been none.
Your rights, in Gabon
The law protects you
Law no. 006/2021 of 6 September 2021 addresses the elimination of violence against women; a companion law reformed the penal code and now recognises marital rape.
You have time
Rape is subject to a twenty-year limitation period. For abuse suffered in childhood, that period only begins at your legal majority.
Support exists
Psychological care for victims is provided for by law, and a dedicated reception centre operates in Libreville.
Where to find help
This information is provided for guidance. Some police stations have units dedicated to violence; for your own situation, a professional or an organisation can support you.
Understand, and act
An academic colloquium on violence.
On 16, 17 and 18 January 2024, Ebando co-organised the Colloquium on Violence with the Department of Psychology of Omar Bongo University, with the support of the French Embassy and the European Union. It carries forward the film Mivova y'ato and more than twenty years of gathered testimonies.
Its driving intuition: our addictions and our derailments take root in our trauma. Bringing academic research together with initiatory experience, to better understand violence and seek, together, paths to repair.
With the support of
A door stays open
Come, speak, be heard.
If you recognise yourself in these voices, you are welcome. Write to us, or come. The rest is built together.