We were questioned, often insulted and our car searched. The mere fact of knowing that one would be stopped and that anything could result from that, created fear. I traveled with a constant gnawing fear hidden behind a fa ade of nonchalance. We traveled in a private car. Those using public transport including the drivers, were subject to much more severe and intense harassment, verbal abuse, abuse of property and payment of bribes.
Violence distorts our lives, causes chaos, panic, fear.
It disables us physically and psychologically. The violence referred to in my study is all inclusive, that is, it is psychological, physical, emotional, sexual, verbal. In many instances an act of violence includes all of these, in some cases only a few. Violence and or the threat of violence are ever present and walk hand in hand with fear. For the sake of survival, we begin to 'manage' our fear, that is we temporarily consign it to the recesses of our consciousness.