DRACO
VIP
Every morning, 28-year-old Officer Shamis Abdi Bile rises before dawn to make breakfast for her husband and three young children.
She bustles around the house, fulfilling the traditional role of homemaker, something that is still expected of Somali women. But once her family has eaten, Bile takes on an unexpected role.
Bile becomes a warrior; almost single-handedly fighting for the prosecution of rape and sexual violence in Puntland, Somalia.
She changes into her khaki police uniform, neatly pressed and spotless, and walks several miles through the dusty streets of Garowe -- the small capital city of Somalia’s vast, barren Puntland state -- to the local police station.
Bile is the only female officer in her unit, and the only woman handling issues of sexual violence in the area.
'RAPE IS COMMON HERE; NOBODY TAKES IT SERIOUSLY'
Waiting for Bile in the hot, stuffy interview room is a terrified teenage girl. She grips the hands of her friend so tightly that her knuckles turn white.
The girl’s angry sobs are barely audible over the sound of dozens of flies buzzing around the tiny space. It has no doors or windows to ensure privacy; any number of the men in the office will be able to overhear the girl's testimony.
A young boy from her neighbourhood held her down for the purpose of raping her, tearing at her clothes as she screamed.
The girl has been once to the police station already, several days ago, but when she tried to report the crime, nobody seemed to care.
Instead, the male officers mocked her, advising her to go home and forget about it because she would not find the justice she was seeking.
This is why Bile gets up every morning and goes to a job that can barely pay her a living wage (she hasn't been properly paid in a year). She’s furious, and she’s the only one determined to help.
'I feel driven to help when a woman is being abused,' Bile says passionately. 'And do whatever I can do to catch those who are harassing her.'
The girl’s dark eyes glint as she keeps the rest of her face covered. She won’t give her name, afraid that being labeled a rape survivor in Somalia’s ultra-conservative society would ruin her and her family’s reputation.
Shamis Abdi Bile - a police officer on a mission to change life for women in Somalia
NEHA WADEKAR
Bile, a fierce and unconventional woman, summons the male colleague originally assigned to the case into her office for a public scolding, stamping her neon orange sneakers and bellowing loudly.
She doesn’t care that the officer outranks her, nor that here, in Somalia, his status as a man makes him her social superior. She may be the only female officer, but she commands the respect of the men around her.
As Bile berates him, the male officer places his hands on his portly belly and tries to look ashamed. He attempts to defend himself, weakly protesting that the teenage girl would be better off if she just forgot the incident altogether. After all, he says, rape is common here and nobody takes that sort of thing seriously. Nobody, it seems, except Officer Bile.
Brimming with frustration, Bile promptly takes over the case.
'Some officers say rape is not a big deal,' Bile says. 'They say it has been happening for ages and it’s nothing new.'
READ FULL ARTICLE : https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-cu...untland-where-men-dont-consider-rape-a-crime/
