Yetunde Trauma

Our topic of discussion is Yetunde’s story, and the trauma that she has faced due to her sexual assault. Yetunde was born in Nigeria, and lived there until she left for America to escape her future husband and rapist. She attended college, but when her mother died she had to quit college to work with her dad. Later, she was sponsored to go back to college by a wealthy member of the largest political party of Nigeria, with the caveat that she marry him. The first time she met him, he raped her. Although devastated, she did accept his offer to help pay for her college education. Occasionally he would show up and take her to his house and rape her. During college, she was the cook for the soccer team, and when given the chance to travel with

Having the ability to call 911 or ask for a police escort has been critical to her well being. Since her husband to be, discovered that she ran away to America, Yetunde has been scared for her life given the political position and powers of her fiancé. The ability to call the police for help and protection has been critical. However, police departments are notoriously underfunded in their current state, and it has been reported that, “Some agencies have stopped responding to all motor vehicle thefts, burglar alarms, and non-injury motor vehicle accidents.” (COPS) This means that the police cannot provide all the protection needed to victims like Yetunde all the time. Because the police are ultimately funded by taxes, and less than needed actually ends up in the police departments, the police have had to make cuts. Furthermore, the police are unable to help Yetunde and similar victims with the trauma they deal with from their rape, or with acclimating with life in America. In order to help with those issues, another agency that she had to deal with was Immigration Services. They provide services to immigrants with things dealing with citizenship and Green Cards. (http://www.uscis.gov) While they can be very helpful in creating opportunities for new arrivals to the United States, it is required “that USCIS be self-funded from fees.” (Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman) This means that their budgets are

And while the police and 911 could help with the second half of the problem, the first half they do not deal with. Services to remedy these issues are rarely provided by the government, even though “the average rape costs $87,000, ” (National Crime Justice Reference Site) of taxpayer money. It is also noted that, “Survivors who had the assistance of an advocate were significantly more likely to have . . . less distress.” (Violence Against Women) Clearly, these services are needed, and there are many different agencies available. One government agency that was recently made available is “Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP), the first funding stream to focus specifically on rape and sexual assault. SASP provides for a wide array of services, such as crisis intervention, counseling, rape crisis centers, medical and social services, 24-hour sexual assault hotlines, and medical and legal advocacy.” (The White House Council on Women and Girls) This agency was recently created to help stop sexual assault, and deal with the aftermath of it. There are also social service agencies, such as the Women Organized Against Rape, which “provides comprehensive services to victim/survivors of sexual assault and sexual abuse as well as to their significant others.” (WOAR) These agencies together provide comprehensive treatment and counseling for victims