MUSINA, South Africa (AP) — An emotional Matt Damon listened to a Zimbabwean woman describe how she was raped while pregnant after crossing the border into South Africa.
The 18-year-old was raped by a friend of the taxi driver who promised her a job when she arrived in South Africa last year. She and a friend bribed a police officer to allow them to cross the border illegally.
On her first night, the taxi driver took the woman, who was five months pregnant at the time, to a house to stay. “That is where it happened. I screamed, no one heard me,” she said, crying as a watery-eyed Damon swallowed hard.
The Associated Press recently accompanied Damon to Musina on the South African border with Zimbabwe which is battling to cope with an influx of Zimbabweans fleeing the economic collapse and dire humanitarian conditions in their country.
Damon founded the human rights organization Not On Our Watch with other celebrities such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The organization has drawn attention to the crisis in Darfur and assisted with humanitarian aid in Haiti and Myanmar.
The Uniting Reform Church where a number of other woman have found shelter is one of the local organizations offering assistance to Zimbabweans that Damon visited.
He also spent some time at the Musina Showgrounds where U.N. and South African government officials have set up a reception center to process asylum seekers.
Damon is in South Africa making a film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as the country’s first black president, Nelson Mandela. The film is based on the uplifting moment soon after the end of apartheid when South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup on home soil.
Damon said he hoped to use his “celebrity capital” to raise awareness about Zimbabwe. He said it was important to keep pressure on international and regional leaders into helping Zimbabwe resolve its problems.