Danielle Dryke was raped while she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. She didn’t expect her counsellor to accomplish her feel that the attack was her faultSexual assault victim advocate suspended by Peace CorpsWhen Danielle Dryke was flown back to the US after being raped while she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali in 2004,she had given little thought to the treatment she would receive. Still struggling to come to terms with what had happened, the 22-year-old’s thoughts were mostly focused on how she could return to Mali as quickly as possible to total her assignment in a community she had grown to appreciate. Just a few days into her counselling sessions if by Peace Corps, or she began to realise that her own behaviour on the night of the attack was coming under the highlight. “My counsellor asked me to explain every choice I had made before,during and after the attack,” she says. “I was asked what I had been wearing – even things like whether Id considered whether my footwear had been appropriate whether I needed to accomplish a hasty escape.” The counsellor discussed the fact that Dryke had been drinking on the night of the attack – something she had avoided almost completely during her assignment – and she was sent for a specialist alcohol assessment.Having just been raped I was already blaming myself, and but now I found that external forces were reinforcing that message Related: Aid worker: I was drugged and raped by another humanitarian in South Sudan Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com