Reporting to the police Khayelitsha SAPS Rape Crisis room. Play dolls for children to use to explain what happened when they report they have been raped.© Hazel Thompson

Sixolile - Aged 19. At the age of 14, a man from her community raped her at gunpoint. After he raped her he shot Sixolile in the neck and left her to die in the school toilets. But she survived. The bullet will remain in her neck permanently.© Hazel Thompson

Places where rape has taken place. Rape doesn't affect just one area in South African society. It affects rich and poor communities alike. A woman could be raped in her own home; at work, at the perpetrator's home, in her local community, on the beach, in a ditch: just anywhere. The rape in a dark alley that everyone imagines seldom occurs. It's in our brightly lit living rooms, sunny classrooms and neighbourhood streets that danger really lives.© Hazel Thompson

Maureen - Aged 31. Maureen's neighbour abused her sexually from when she was six years old, then raped her when she turned 19. Maureen first spoke about her secret five years ago, at the age of 26.'I had to put a face up to the world that showed not one of my feelings... and keeping my secret a secret, I tried to block my feelings out in order to cope.'© Hazel Thompson

Zimbini - Aged 23. Zimbini and two of her friends were gang raped by four boys from a neighbouring village. One girl recognised one of the rapists. Out of fear of being caught, the boys murdered the girls. Zimbini only survived by playing dead and walking 5km to her village with a slit throat and stab wounds in both eyes. Zimbini now lives in Khayelithsa with 13 family members and her son.© Hazel Thompson

Filicity – Aged 32. At 12 years old Felicity went to help a close family friend, who was also her local priest, with his washing and ironing. Alone with her in the house, he raped Filicity in his daughter’s room.© Hazel Thompson

Simelela Rape Care Centre & the medical examination.The centre currently provides a 24 hour one-stop service for child and adult survivors of violence that ensures that the police, medical, legal and counselling services are available at one centre.Part of the police investigation is a forensic examination to collect physical evidence from our bodies.© Hazel Thompson

The Trial: When the survivors go to court they sometimes feel that they are the ones on trial. That is because the prosecutor has to prove to the magistrate beyond all reasonable doubt their account of what happened is the truth and very often there were no witnesses and the defence attorney’s only option is to try to make out that they are lying and the rapist’s version of events is the truth. © Hazel Thompson

Charlie- Aged 39. Raped by her best friend at gunpoint in his mother’s house when Charlie was 28 years old. Because of the stigma attached to rape by her community, Charlie’s family has asked that her identity remain undisclosed. Charlie now speaks openly about being raped and has become a counsellor helping other rape survivors.© Hazel Thompson