We were very shocked within the LOHCE team by the written testimony of a passenger on Twitter relating a sexual assault she allegedly suffered on a bus during an overnight trip.
Here is the link to the tweet https://twitter.com/Corrinefogueng/status/1389502087713677312
What challenged us the most in this testimony is the choice that the passenger made not to report this assault immediately on the bus to the driver and the hostess.
She explains this choice with two equally disturbing facts:
A firm belief that no one was going to take her accusations seriously if she had reported the incident immediately on the bus to the driver and the hostess.
But above all, the fact that if his denunciation had been taken seriously and the aggressor confronted, this did not guarantee his safety outside the transport company when they arrived at their destination around 10 p.m. according to his testimony.
I personally cannot imagine the pain and shock that it is to not only endure such an assault so suddenly on a bus, but then to resign oneself to walling into silence because of the belief that you have no support around you.
At LOHCE, we share very deeply the belief that such traumatic experiences should be brought to the attention of transport companies.
These reports must be done in a way that allows actions to be taken or considered whether to understand how such a situation could have happened or even to prevent this type of situation from happening again.
The safety of passengers and cabin crew during the journey is a natural part of the commitments of any inter-city transport company.
As proof of this, the United Express transport company recently announced on its Facebook page that a complaint lodged by one of their passengers, a victim of rape in Douala, actually led to the arrest of the assailant and his investigation by the police.
It is not easy to cope with the complexity of this type of situation. And the silence that can be imposed as a solution of resignation can prove to be guilty in the long term and even lead to even more stressful disorders.
If you feel you need help, do not hesitate like these two brave women to talk about it in the form that suits you best.
To express yourself, we also recommend the « Alert GBV » service set up by the organization WETECH which is a support platform for African women in the fields of entrepreneurship and technology.
« Alert GBV » allows victims to:
- Express yourself and be aware
- Possibly find help contacts (associations, psychologists, etc.)
- Send alerts in the event of violence.
« Alert GBV » is available:
- In French: http://bit.ly/alert-gbv-Fr
- In English: http://bit.ly/alert-gbv-En
The « words » of these victims, expressed in the form of a complaint or a Tweet, had a powerful impact on the outcome of these horrific assaults. Assaults that we are far from imagining experiencing when settling after a hard day in a bus for a long trip of four to five hours.
At LOHCE, we attach great importance to your feedback, it is for this reason that from the launch of the www.lohce.com service for the online purchase of bus tickets in August 2017, we have provided you with a form to allow you to provide feedback and feedback on your trips, whether positive or negative.
Your returns are directly made available to our partner transport companies.
If you have also been a victim or witness of this type of assault, if you feel the need and the strength to talk about it, do not hesitate to use this form to report your experience to the transport agency for exploitation.
By doing this you create a real opportunity to change a lot of things and you participate actively and preciously in a better prevention against these attacks.
To do so, go to the website of the partner company LOHCE. The links for each company are available on www.lohce.com.
Once on the transport company’s website search for and click on the « Write to us » button
Here are the direct links according to our partner transport companies at the time of writing this article.
Amour Mezam Express, FINEXS Voyages, General Express Voyage
Excellent evening and courage to you