REBUILDING young lives shattered by sexual abuse and domestic violence inspires Captain Sarita Jare to look forward to another day.
"Every new day is a step forward for the young girls and women I work with - to help them get back on their feet," she says.
Captain Jare manages the Salvation Army's Family Care Centre in the Northern Division. She coordinates training for unemployed women and runs the church kindergarten.
She's a mother, wife, counsellor, sounding board, church minister and, to young girls raped by men in positions of trust - a lifeline.
For the past six years she has acted as an emotional crutch for young girls between the ages of 11 and 20 who have suffered rape and sexual abuse. These are cases referred to the center by the Social Welfare Department.
"The department removes these girls from their homes for their safety and to allow investigations to continue uninterrupted by family members interfering and trying to influence them through bribes and threats of violence," Captain Jare says.
The sensitive, delicate and often draining task of helping these victims begins the day they're received at the center.
"I help them process all their feelings and make them believe it's not their fault," she says.
"I see fear lurking in their eyes, with their trust in human goodness completely gone - they shut the world out.
"Sometimes it takes months for them to talk because they're weighed down by fear, shame, sorrow or feelings of nothingness."
It's a daily roller coaster of emotions dealing with the victims.
"One day they're smothered in tears, the next they're angry and hit out at the world - and being their guardian they become nasty with me, yet the very next day they're laughing," she says
Captain Jare recharges with prayer and gets on with the task of enrolling the girls in school, arranging for uniforms or organising skills training for unemployed women.
"I encourage them to be brave in facing those who have abused them in court, people who have threatened to kill them if they don't submit to their evil demands," she says.
"They reach a point in their lives when they feel they're nothing, and through God I help them rebuild so that someday they can stand on their own two feet.
"One of my girls came to me recently and said she no longer felt like a victim, that she wanted to complete her education and become a nurse - it was a happy day for me.
"I do this for the love of God and because it feels me with joy to see them become bold again, do well in school and become ambitious about getting careers just like any other girl."
