Date: Reference: Appellant: Date Of Birth: Country:

11th November 2008 SK38P8F Mwale, Jeniphar Alineya th 14 April 1987 Malawi

To the presiding officer: Pretoria Refugee Reception Office DF Malan Drive Pretoria West, 0183

Dear Sir/Madam RE: APPEAL FOR THE ASYLUM CASE NO. SK38P8F On 31st of October 2008 i was informed that my asylum application number SK38P8F was rejected on the ground that the claim was not sufficient. In this regard i submit this appeal to substantiate my claim further. In my claim before, i was not able to disclose fully the actual facts that made me flee Malawi. Therefore, i will base my appeal solemnly on these following grounds. Firstly, i have always been traumatised by ordeal i went through n Malawi and it has been a difficult task to reveal my plight. For almost three years i have been haunted by my past to such an extent that even talking to anyone has been difficult task lest it might fall into the wrong ears. Secondly my inability to communicate in English was a major limitation factor in expressing myself at all. Lack of an interpreter during the interview was also a contributing factor to my inability to express myself. After legal and psychiatrist consultation, now i am able to express myself. I came to South Africa on 15th October 2006 from a Malawian township called Nkhatabay. In this township everyone including my parents, is a member of sect group well known as Mpingo Wa Makolo Achikuda , or just Makolo . They are well known for their rituals including female genital mutilation (FGM) and witchcraft. Months before i fled, my parent had made arrangement for my FGM and after then i would have been married of to an old man within the sect. Weeks before this initiation the forbidden operation went horribly wrong after 3 girls (one my friend) forced to the

operation died mysteriously and their body parts went missing. Despite this my parent insisted on going ahead with this FGM because that was the only way i would be married off and in return they get money. The eve of the operation, i managed to escape together with another friend of mine Sophie to a town called Blantyre. We went to Felix Maganga her uncle s place, her dad's brother who was perceived to be a Christian. When we arrived there , it was great at first , but one day Sophie was sent to buy groceries and her uncle was the only one there , he asked me to come to his bedroom he wanted to show me something , he told me to sit on his bed so I did , and that's when my nightmare started , he put his hand on my leg and started moving it up slowly , I told him to stop that I didn't want him to touch me , but he told me No! that if I would just relax I would like the way it felt, I tried to leave the room but he threw me back down on the bed and took my clothes off and then he raped me, when my Sophie came home I told her what happened, and I was shocked when she told me not to say anything to anyone about it, Sophie told me that it happened to her a day before and if i told anyone we would have nowhere to stay. We also later discovered that her uncle was also a Makolo sect member and her two daughters were sold off to the sect. Her wife was blind after a fight they had so it was easy to keep things from her, so every day for about 2 weeks it was the same thing over and over, and then one day my prayers was answered, her uncle forgot his keys to his safe deposit box and i managed to take his money and flee together with Sophie. Felix Maganga was later arrested after being found in possession of several sets of male and female parts. However, i have also recently learnt that he has been released after bribing his way out. Life was not easy on arrival in South Africa i was continually subjected to hostility from my Malawian hosts. But now i can truly say i overcame. In those accounts i have established a prima facie case of asylum. I have well-founded fear of persecution on account of defecting from a sect, FGM cruelty and fear for my life from Felix Maganga. If return to my country i will be persecuted, forced to undergo female genital mutilation or even worse killed by felix Maganga. Therefore, i plead to you to exercise an
absolute discretion in this appeal.

Yours Sincere Jeniphar Mwale