The manual uses the metaphor of the butterfly woman. A made-up story about a woman who is raped by soldiers is presented. Her experiences, her life before the rape, her reactions and thoughts are presented. Furthermore, the story contains descriptions of the way in which she sees herself afterwards, reluctantly asks for help and then slowly proceeds in her life through a lot of difficult steps.
By presenting this story all through the training, a trauma story is communicated, including descriptions of reactions that are frequent after such violence, and also what are considered good steps in a helping process. Ways the helper approaches the survivor, and what is said and suggested to her, are also reflected in the story, which ends in her going back to her family and community. In the manual, we also explain that this metaphor may be adapted in ways that seem better suited in the specific culture, but our experience is that the changes needed have been minor.
Here is the metaphor in one piece. The story is a key element to understanding the training. It will be useful to have the story in your native language when you are talking with the survivor. We would appreciate if you could translate the story into your language.
Remember that the characteristics of the Butterfly Woman that are presented in the manual may not necessarily match expectations of appearance or behaviour in the region where the training occurs. If this is so, find locally appropriate descriptions. Your listeners will want to feel that the story is about real life, about us. To motivate and inspire, it should echo the culture, social norms and behaviour of those who are listening. Change and modify the story as you see fit, so that it makes sense to your audience.
In this training, we use a single metaphorical narrative to describe the experience and consequences of Gender Based Violence. We explain the course that trauma takes in generic terms through the story of the Butterfly Woman; it remains a story but at the same time it is clinically accurate.
We hope this information is useful, you can find more resources in the menu on this page.