Blessing Odum

Several women at the protest in Bundu waterfront on 12 October 2009 were beaten by members of the security forces. Blessing Odum, 44 years old and mother of seven children, had been part of the protest: “...Women decided to wear black on the day as a sign of protest and we stood at the prison road to stop the government from entering the community... We were more than 50 women. We were singing songs at the governor, asking him to leave us alone, we had reclaimed this land by ourselves. As we were signing, another armoured vehicle arrived with a group of soldiers in it. Then more armoured vehicles arrived with [more] soldiers in them. The soldiers started shooting. Everyone ran for life and shooting continued and teargas was fired... I ran away with another woman... Soldiers continued shooting for more than an hour. [When] we started to [go home to] check for our families, we were sighted by the police ... The police jumped off their vehicles and chased us. I was caught. The police slapped my face... I was dragged to the police car and was told to lie down. I was flogged by the police using a cable wire, baton sticks and a horse whip. I was hit all over my body... The police kept saying that we were trouble makers... During the flogging, the police poured teargas into our eyes. A woman who owns a restaurant close by was later to take us to her shop to help us clean our eyes but our eyes were very painful. We stayed at this restaurant for an hour. ... In the meantime, the police had broken into my shop.”

 

When Blessing eventually got back to her house, her door had been broken and the drinks she sold at her café in Bundu waterfront had been taken. Amnesty International viewed damage to doors and locks in Blessing Odum’s cafe.

 

Location on map is approximate.

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