The following picture appeared with an article in the November 2005 issue of Rooi Rose, the article was in Afrikaans, below, we have used the document which Glenda sent to them.

Most Frequently Asked Question - Why?

Usually, before any important decision is made, there are questions that need to be answered. If we start a business the question would be, “Is it feasible?” When we are going to marry, shall we rent or buy a place to live? Do we both have the same feelings towards having children? When? How many? etc.

So many important issues are THOUGHT through, very few are FELT through.

I THOUGHT about returning to teaching piano when my twins were old enough, which is what I was doing on that fateful night of March 5th 1996.

My last lesson had left and I had gone out to check if the pool needed chlorine. As I went back inside the house I heard the phone ringing. I closed the sliding door at the back of the house but didn’t lock it as I would be going out again I THOUGHT! .....

It was 6.30p.m. I was chatting away to a friend in my lounge (fully furnished then) when three men pointing guns at me just appeared seemingly out of no-where. Shock and fear were a first reaction.

My twins have written their experience into a lovely letter which they have called “LAVENDER LOVE” The significance of Lavender is that I plant one each time a new baby arrives. I could take Margaret Roberts on at the moment!

My son Rhys was tied up with a gun at the side of his head, my daughter Cathryn-Jane was quick enough to hide under the duvet. They were in bed reading at the time their childhood was lost. Mom couldn’t fix this!!! I was hit over the head with the butt of a gun and the blood poured down my face, into my eyes. With the little sight I had, I could see Rhys, with tears of helplessness and hopelessness pouring down his face.

They dragged me to the dining room and brutally raped me. I have given birth to five children and never needed a stitch. I had 46 stitches after being raped. They then stole the car, hi-fi equipment etc. and came back to ask me how to put the car in reverse!!

The twins didn’t see any of this but how much did they know? They were 8 years old. My husband arrived at the driveway to be met by Paramedics and Policemen. His words on hearing what had happened were, “tell Glenda I’m sorry, but I can’t do this”. I have learned since that the divorce rate for rape victims is extremely high.

Thank God for my Daughter Gemma and my Son Stephen. They were out of their minds, they didn’t know what to do or say but they were there. I remember clearly going into the bathroom with Gemma. She was a tower of strength outwardly but what was going through her mind. Stephen wanted to kill them. He is usually the mildest, gentlest temperament but he couldn’t bear it.Should they phone my eldest daughter Susan, she was in Switzerland? Very little is heard about how rape affects family members. How we slept that night I’ll never know.

All I could think of was HIV/AIDS, what about the children? Still THINKING, counseling for them? I would be alright if they could just get through this and so the THINKING went on. Until 2 days later. I was in the kitchen, hobbling around with my stitches when the miracle happened .....

I thought of the Mothers of the rapists. There is no handbook for Motherhood, they always seem to be writing them about someone else’s child! We try our best and make mistakes. We’re human. Imagine how it would FEEL to be the Mother of a rapist. I could only feel compassion that they were someone’s Sons.

Then the Miracle. Forgiveness. Not in my own strength, I’m not sure that’s possible. Only with the Grace of God. I was absolutely determined that I would not be a victim. That would not only be out of character, it would serve no other purpose but pity and I couldn’t bear my children to have no parent to look up to. I would be a witness to the power of GOOD over evil, I would show them that it’s not what happens in your life but what you do with it.

That’s when ALL OUR CHILDREN FIRST took its first breath. I take nothing for granted, each new day, for all the many trials and heartache, is another day to experience the GOODNESSS of people to whom I’m eternally grateful. We are faced each day with newspapers telling us of doom and gloom. That is not my experience. If and when I do speak of my experience, the emphasis is NOT on the rape, it is how we can turn a horrific experience into something that is good and of value.

People often say they would rather be shot dead than go through that. I tell them that the Rapists don’t arrive with a menu and ask which you’d prefer!!! My Mother’s sense of humour has certainly been passed on to me, her stories of material hardship which we both laughed at as she told them have also been passed on to me now.

My Father's unshakeable belief that A LIFE UNEXAMINED IS A LIFE NOT WORTH LIVING, has found its own truth.