Silent Cries: The Unspoken War Against Women and Children

 By Tholoana Lesenya

MASERU-In the silentcorners of homes across the world, places meant to accommodate dreams and raise families, unspeakable horrors unfold in whispers and screams that too often go unheard. Behind closed doors and drawn curtains, an unseen war rages. The casualties? Women and children. The perpetrators? Often, the very men who once promised to love and protect them.

She was only 28 when her story ended, not in illness or accident, but in an unhuman act of violence. Her name was Mpho (not real name), a teacher, a mother, a woman who laughed loudly and loved deeply. Her body was found two days after neighbors reported bizarre sounds coming from the house. Her husband confessed: he did not mean to, he said. He was angry. He lost control.

That story, with its chilling familiarity, has echoed across villages, towns, and cities like a cursed refrain. Every week, headlines tell of new victims. A toddler found lifeless in a pit latrine. A teenage girl strangled in a field. A mother of three stabbed in her sleep. The details differ, but the pattern remains.

The Monster in Familiar Clothing

What makes these killings all the more tragic is that they are not committed by strangers lurking in alleyways, but by men known to the victims, husbands, boyfriends, stepfathers, uncles. These are not random acts of cruelty; they are deliberate, intimate betrayals.

Experts call it gender-based violence (GBV), a term that encompasses a range of abuse rooted in power, control, and deeply entrenched patriarchy. But no term can capture the shattering grief of a child orphaned by their father's rage, or the permanent silence left behind by a woman who once lit up a room.

A Culture of Silence and Fear

In our community, people do not talk about it, says Relebohile (not real name), a social worker in Lesotho. Its a private matter. Even when a woman comes with bruises, she is told to forgive, to pray, to stay for the children. But staying often means dying. Fear keeps women trapped. Economic dependence, religious expectations, family pressure, and legal inaction all build a cage. And inside that cage, predators thrive.

The Children Who Witness and Suffer

When children witness domestic violence, they do not walk away unharmed. They carry trauma like an invisible weight, some growing fearful, others becoming violent themselves. Some never grow at all. In the worst cases, they become direct victims. In moments of rage or revenge, fathers have killed their own children, claiming it as punishment for their partners. These acts, unimaginable to most, are growing in number.

Where Is Justice?

Laws exist. In many countries, including Lesotho and South Africa, GBV is criminalized. But justice moves slowly, if at all. Police reports go unfiled. Cases collapse due to lack of evidence. Survivors are re-traumatized in courtrooms. And too often, culprits walk free, only to strike again. Change requires more than policy; it demands a cultural shift.

A Call to Wake Up

Community leaders, teachers, faith groups, and lawmakers must come together. But so must ordinary men, fathers, brothers, friends, who must speak out against other men. Silence is complicity. The world does not need more apologies after tragedy; it needs action before it happens. In Mphos village, her funeral was attended by hundreds. They sang hymns and wept. They spoke of her kindness, her childrens laughter, the dreams she had for tomorrow. But she is gone, and no justice can bring her back.

How many more must die before this war is acknowledged for what it is? Until then, the cries will continue, muffled, ignored, silenced. And homes will remain the most dangerous place for far too many women and children.

*Name changed to protect identity.