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The genius Vimba helpline app allows rape survivors from Diepsloot – one of the worst affected areas of gender-based violence in the country – to call for help from police and paramedics. It also provides the user’s location – all without having to use a single megabyte of data.
The Vimba helpline has come about with the help of the Mail & Guardian’s brilliant Bhekisisa team, which partnered with Diepsloot-based organisations to create a cellphone app that will make it easier for women and children in the township to know what to do and where to go when they’ve been abused.
“There is no nearby government hospital that offers rape counselling services. Only the police do. The two local clinics don’t stock rape kits,” Brown Lekekela explains. Lekekela is from the Green Door, the only place in the township where women and children who have been abused can find temporary shelter. “But there are at least five nongovernmental organisations that can assist victims for free. We just didn’t know how to let everyone know about them so that more
people use their services.”
Dial *134*403# from any cellphone to get assistance with the app
