What does it take to function each day after you've been brutalised by trauma?
How do you think clearly?
How do you manage to work and eat and interact with people when you've been pushed to the brink of despair?
How do you ever smile again?
This is what the survivors on SABC's new series Rebounders have achieved despite the gut wrenching Gender Based Violence they've suffered.
The six part series premiered on SABC2 this past Sunday (4 December) at 20h00, with activist Grizelda Grootboom's harrowing story.
If you missed it, you'll be able to see it on the SABC's new streaming service SABC+ from this Sunday 11 December.
Each episode will be on SABC+ a week after it airs on SABC2.
As you'll see, everyone featured needs a standing ovation for the way they've transcended their devastating ordeals. Your mind, body and soul will be impacted by what they've been through.
This is who they are:
Human Trafficked
Episode 1
On: Sunday 4 December 2022
Grizelda Grootboom was only 18 years old when she was tricked by someone she thought was a friend and was sold into sex trafficking.
We take her back to the flat where she was trafficked at the age of 18, as she faces it as an activist today.
We walk the journey with her as she explains her childhood days in Cape Town where everything went wrong.
She believes that there is a rape culture in South Africa, and she speaks about being gang raped at the age of eight.
The adults in her life didn’t own up as responsible parents. Her story has caught the attention of many worldwide, and she has been able to use this attention to publish a memoir, and even received an invitation to address the U.N. General Assembly.
Her mission is to tell her story to prevent this from happening to other girls. But she is also proof that others in similar situations can learn that there is a way out.
Domestic Violence
Episode 2
On: Sunday 11 December 2022
Jaco Swart pleaded guilty to two charges of assault, with intention to inflict grievous bodily harm against his estranged wife, Nicoleen Swart.
He was sentenced to a R20,000 fine and a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, in the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court.
After the court ruling CCTV videos went viral showing how Jaco beat, kicked, and abused Nicoleen, at times in front of their children.
Jaco was under the impression that he deleted the footage which was retrieved by experts.
Nicoleen takes us back to the places where all of this happened as she confronts this tragic time of her life.
During the interview she also tells how Jaco hanged six puppies, which she loved, on a door handle.
Nicoleen, who is still coping with the trauma, tells her story to give hope to women who are facing the same. She wants to encourage women to get out and speak up.
Rape
Episode 3
On: Sunday 18 December 2022
Rose Thamae, fondly known as Mam Rose, survived three rapes. The first one happened at age nine.
She was gang raped at the age of 19 and again at age 29 when she contracted HIV.
Today Mam Rose is one of the biggest activists amongst GBV victims. She provides home-based care to those infected with HIV and AIDS within South Africa’s Orange Farm community.
She has also initiated a feeding programme for the young and a youth programme.
From rape and HIV victim to AIDS activist - her work with the youth and her community is making a big difference in educating people.
Schedule alert!
The show will take a break from 18 December because of the festive season. It returns on 8 January.
Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse
Episode 4
On: 8 January 2022
Mimi Mahlasela, the beloved actress known as Aggie on 7de Laan is proof that GBV doesn’t discriminate.
She grew up in a house of domestic violence, where her father raised his hand against her mother.
After her mother left her father, Mimi was sexually abused as a pre-schooler.
These tragic situations had a huge effect on her becoming an adult as she tried to commit suicide.
As if this wasn’t enough, she's also had to deal with online bullying after becoming famous.
It will be the first time ever that Mimi revisits the places where all of these devastating things happened to her.
By telling her story she wants to highlight the GBV pandemic in our country and prove that victims can become victors.
Being Transgender
Episode 5
On: 15 January 2023
Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a transgender woman, made world headlines after being arrested in Malawi for marrying her then-partner, Steven Monjeza, in what was the country's first same-sex marriage.
She fled the country and came to South Africa where we visited her and her partner Benson in Gugulethu, Cape Town.
Many of the challenges she faces arise from the intersection of racism, xenophobia and cisnormativity
* due to her identity.
She wants to create awareness about being marginalized and educate people about the world she has to live in, in the hope of saving a life.
Rape and Murder
Episode 6
On: Sunday 22 January 2023
Ina Bonnette survived three rapes, mutilation, and the murder of her son. All of this harm was done by her husband Johan Kotze, labelled the Modimolle Monster by the media.
He hired three men to rape her whilst looking at the acts, he mutilated her nipples and lady parts.
She has written a book about her ordeal and is telling her story so that other people can learn from her experience.
Her biggest mission is to prove that perpetrators cannot steal your humanity or happiness and that there is a life after a crime like GBV.
Flash fact:
The series is produced by Simone Ross for Red Sugar Productions.
*The assumption that a person's gender identity matches their biological sex and that this is the so-called "normal" or "right" way to be.