Tony and his Tractor do good things for Rape Victims

Taking a breather in-between the long (and slow) travels - Tony Psaila and his trusted tractor

Firstly this is truly a worthy cause especialy in South Africa

Here are South African Statistics

1 in 2 women have a chance of being raped in their lifetime

A woman is raped every 26 seconds

More than 40% of perpetrators are known to the rape survivor

1 in 4 women are in an abusive relationship

A woman is killed every 6 days by her intimate male partner

A child is abused every 8 minutes

A child is raped every 24 minutes

85-90% of perpetrators are known to the child

1 in 4 girls and 1 in 5 boys under 16yrs have been sexually abused

(No stats available as yet for male victims)

Tony's hopes and aspirations on this trip

There are over two million reported rape cases in South Africa every year. To raise awareness of this shocking statistic and to raise funds for rape crisis centres around the country, Tony Psaila will be travelling around the world on a tractor. In June Psaila will be leaving Cape Town for Australia. He will then travel across the country before hopping over to New Zealand, then South America and eventually ending in Vancouver, Canada. ‘Then I will go across to Russia and go through as many countries as possible ending up in London, and then making my way back to South Africa,’ he said. The trip will take about five years - and Tony has set himself a target of R1-billion. ‘If this goal is achieved, then I will be able to set up centres in SA and in other countries as well, as this problem is not isolated to just South Africa.’

Why this incredible journey?
‘I was gunned down in an armed holdup while defending a friend from three armed robbers,’ he explained. This just eight months after moving to South Africa from Australia. ‘When I finally recovered from this shooting, I got involved in the setting up of a safe house in Howick for women and children. After seeing the trauma that women and children go through after being involved in abusive relationships, broken marriages and so on, I wanted to do something positive to help. Tony decided to drive his 1948 Ferguson tractor across South Africa and raise money to help keep the centre going. On 1 April 2006, he left from Beit Bridge border and drove to Cape Town. This trip took one month and raised over R100 000. ‘Then in 2008, after hearing a radio news report about a young woman called Jes Foord who was brutally gang raped in Hillcrest, I decided to meet with her and see if I could assist her with raising some money to build her first all-under-one-roof centre to help rape victims.’

Tony will be here in Zululand and you will have a chance to listen to Tony’s tales of his incredible travels so far at the Alligators Club House on 1 May at 1pm. For further information, contact John Bell on 035 7870457. Follow Tony’s journey at www.tonytractor.org.

Direct link to Tony's web site www.tonytractor.org