At the Great Debate on patriarchy and GBV, activist and survivor Kemmy Mpinang delivered a searing testimony that challenged Botswana to confront the systems that fail victims and the courage it takes to rise again The room fell still at the Great Debate themed From Blame to Accountability: The Patriarchy & GBV Edition 2025 recently as GBV activist, author and survivor Kemmy Mpinang, founder of the Re A Bua Foundation, stepped into the light to recount a life marked by violence and rebuilt through purpose. Mpinang’s story began long before marriage.“I first experienced abuse when I was 14 years when my mother died… the community rejected us and avoided us like the plague,”she told the audience. Orphaned, bullied and forced into child labour, she grew up believing she “would never amount to anything.” Her vulnerability carried her into the arms of a man she hoped would protect her.
Instead, he became her greatest danger. She detailed the years of physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse that hollowed her life: the beatings, the isolation, the forced dependency, the rape. Even police intervention failed her.“I went to report at the police and they let me down telling me to go back home and talk about the issue,” she recalled, a sentence that hung like a verdict in the room. “I have dedicated myself to become the person I needed when I was young,” she said, turning her wounds into a lifeline for others still trapped in silence.
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