Would you engage in an underpaid, emotionally-draining, stressful and time-consuming 24/7 job? This is the life of a first responder to cases of sexual and gender-based violence, Priye Diri, who stands up for survivors and takes on the battle to break the cycle of abuse on Nigerian women and girls.
8:30 AM to 11 AM… IN COURT
“Titi, I am on my period and in severe pain, but I have to be here, in court,” Priye Diri, a first responder to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), whispered to PREMIUM TIMES as we entered the gates of the Federal High Court, Gudu, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, to meet her client.
Battling menstrual cramps, Ms Diri wore a plastic smile on her face because she knew her client, a widow, needed her to get justice for her eight-year-old daughter, who was allegedly raped by a suspected cultist. The survivor’s mother had reported the matter to the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, an organisation that rescues and offers 24-hour GBV response to…