In 2013, shortly before taking her last breath, raped Bredasdorp teenager, Anene Booysen, said she was tired and was going to go to sleep.
Anene’s biological mother had died when she was very young and she was taken in by another family who raised her as their own, despite serious financial problems. Anene had to leave school in Grade 7 to help support the family. One Friday night, Anene had gone to a pub, about six blocks from her home.
The next morning, she was found at a building site brutally raped, and abused and injured. Anene’s fingers and legs were broken, and besides other heinous injuries, she was disemboweled. A horrific crime.
Gender-based violence is a huge scourge in our country, especially considering that men are called to respect, love, care for and protect women, not rape, abuse, neglect and kill them.
The Tibetan Buddhists’ life consists of constant religious observances to obtain a better reincarnation. The believer is constantly spinning prayers wheels, going on pilgrimages, meditating, prostrating, using prayer beads and going on monastic isolations. All this to build up merit to improve their karma to gain a better reincarnation, and – if possible – nirvana.