April 6, 2021 • 8 mins
We spotlight ultrarunner and advocate Ntombesintu Mfunzi.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
Never told you production. I heart radio. All right, Annie,
it is time for another Women Around the World. Are
you ready. I'm always ready. Yeah you are, Yeah you are.
(00:26):
We are talking about an amazing athlete, that ultra runner,
and I have to ask, have you ever done an
ultra marathon? No, I think the closest I've ever come.
I've done marathons. I've done one marathon correction okay, okay,
but I did. Do you like a handful of those
sort of endurance pain races? Okay, the ones that shock you,
(00:49):
like shock you, and you've got to swim in like
ice water and like things like that. I lost my shoe.
And then my very first mud race. It was a
zombie themed mud race, and not only was it like
a mud race, but there had actually been like a
torrential downpour, so it was even worse and I was
anticipated and I lost my shoe in the first ten seconds. Nice. Yeah,
I've been tempted to try those, but then after I
(01:11):
was told you get shocked, I was like, no, why,
there's one thing to go through some like mud and
crawl and try to climb things. But purposely try to
hurt me. Why that's an interesting window into the human psyche.
I think, right, and we already know like things live
with in that like to push your endurance. Those can
(01:31):
be really hard for your body. And half marathons were
hard enough for me. So I was like, no, I'm good.
I think I'm good. Although I would really like to
do the trail running the mountain runs, but again i'm good. Yeah. Yeah,
that's how I broke my ankle on the trail run once,
and like, I love those things and I think that's
(01:52):
what I would ultimately prefer, but I'm so clumsy, and
that experience kind of draping Rick story. Yeah, I don't
blame you. I think I would be the same way
because I always talk about how every time I hike,
at least once every few months, I twist my ankle.
And so as a part of my trail hike stuff,
you know, you have your little backpack and you have
your items. I always have an aspandage because I've twisted
(02:17):
my ankle so many times. But that's not why we're here,
not particularly, And just to put this cabinet in here,
as with anything when we're talking about international people in
international events. Please excuse if we do mispronounce any of
the things. And I say that in all of everything,
because we want to really highlight these amazing people who
(02:40):
may not be well known or who may not be
as famous as some others, and therefore it's harder to
find pronunciations. Yes, but we don't want that to stop
us from talking about and giving the accolades that they deserve. Yeah,
so I just go ahead and put this little cave
you on here. But today we are talking about in
Tumpics in two Fonzi, who is an ultra runner from
(03:02):
South Africa and has become an advocate for survivors of
ripe and violence around the world and to her community.
Funzi grew up near Willoville in the Eastern Cape and
is known as one of the top women runners in
the country, winning a race after race. But in sixteen,
Funzi was hospitalized after being brutally attacked and raped a
(03:22):
day before one of her big races. Though she had
been beaten and severely traumatized, Fonzi decided she would still run.
The next day. She stated, I said to myself, I'm
not going to let the devil win again. I'm going
to do what I came here for, which is running,
and she did. She collapsed as she crossed the finish
line and the crowd chanted her name in support. Right
(03:44):
and knowing she's not the only one to go through
such a traumatic and painful experience, She's been a fierce
advocate for rape survivors and has used her voice to
bring awareness in jatabased violence around her community. According to
some recent data from the South African Police Service, around
two thousand seven dred women were murdered from twenty nineteen
to twenty and though many organizations continue to try to
(04:06):
get an accurate picture of what is happening when it
comes to gender based violence in different areas, the stats
remain unclear. There have been reports that there has been
an increase of gender based crimes, and that obviously doesn't
include those who don't or can't report these incidents for
whatever reason. In many protests were led demanding government action,
(04:27):
which did result in the implementation of the National Strategic
Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide, which would address accountability, prevention, research,
and economic support. It was a lot of a significant
amount of funds, however, due to COVID it was diverted right,
and there has been a lot of pressure from activists
and organizations around the world and in the community. Because
(04:51):
of the lockdown, there has been an even bigger increase
of gender based violence and domestic violence in that community,
and they have been talking about having to do new
programs and or relook at how to get more money
to be able to fund preventative as well as support
for those organizations that are already on the ground trying
to make a difference in trying to make change. And
(05:12):
as we talked about it, she actually was one of
the few who was able to get a pretty swift arrest.
Her attacker was arrested four days after and found and
has been in jail. However, the process in order for
them to go to trial was dragged out, and she
even commented at one point that she thinks this is
part of the reason why people don't report, and she said, quote,
I'm really thankful for the police work, but I feel
(05:34):
like the justice system relaxed after the rapist was arrested.
This closure was so important to me. This postponement was
really killing me um and she talked about how again
that if they were to prioritize possibly rape cases in
court and provide sensitivity training that it would help women
feel safe to be able to report more as In fact,
in twenty twenty, she decided to do more to bring
(05:58):
awareness of gunior based violence and became a speaker for
the sixteen Days of Activism campaign and on her own
social media, she started the hashtag I Choose to be
a Victor and not a victim, saying that she wanted
to be able to not only talk about what happened
to her as a way of giving support to other survivors,
but also be a mentor for them and be a
(06:19):
support for them that needed to talk to her as well.
She said she has had many survivors to contact her
and tell her of the stories and just thank her
for her encouragement and her increased support and advocacy, and
her using her voice again and again and again. She
also started working within the system as well to help
provide some of these services for the women for the
survivors too, So I thought that was really incredible. I
(06:41):
feel that way too. I've often felt like that's why
I became a social workers, because I wanted to be
a part of the change, and that was obviously something
that was important to her as well, and she talks
about how she wants to continue to make changes within
not only her community but in her government in order
to get more support for the women and the survivors.
(07:03):
And it's also inspired her to pursue a degree in
psychology and work as a counselor. Again, I think that
this's just phenomenal and just while she is a top
ten finisher at the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town
that she did in and she was training to make
the top five this year, but of course because of Corona,
the race was canceled. But it's really interesting to see
(07:23):
that not only an incident that could have stopped her
completely that she had felt like was one of the
most traumatic moments because I don't know, I don't know
if I could, I don't know if I could be
that person to say I can do this, but to
get up the next day from the hospital after and um,
we didn't talk specifically about the incident that she went through,
(07:44):
but she did get hit in the head with a hammer,
and the fact that she went through this and was
able to step back out and say no, I will
not let this get me down. That's inspirational. Of course,
not everyone has to be like that, but it is
lovely to see that she was able to triumph and
to get justice as well. Yeah, very inspiring, and I
do love seeing all the advocacy, all the various ways
(08:07):
she's pursuing that, and that she's getting a psychology degree.
That's that's amazing. Yes, well, listeners, if you have any
women around the world that we should spotlight, please send
them to us. We always love your suggestions. You can
email us at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at i heeart
media dot com. You can find us on Instagram, and
Stuff I've Never Told You are on Twitter app, Mom
(08:27):
Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina.
Thank you Christina, and thanks to you for listening Stuff
I've Never Told You protection of I Heart Radio. For
more podcast from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
Never told you production. I heart radio. All right, Annie,
it is time for another Women Around the World. Are
you ready. I'm always ready. Yeah you are, Yeah you are.
(00:26):
We are talking about an amazing athlete, that ultra runner,
and I have to ask, have you ever done an
ultra marathon? No, I think the closest I've ever come.
I've done marathons. I've done one marathon correction okay, okay,
but I did. Do you like a handful of those
sort of endurance pain races? Okay, the ones that shock you,
(00:49):
like shock you, and you've got to swim in like
ice water and like things like that. I lost my shoe.
And then my very first mud race. It was a
zombie themed mud race, and not only was it like
a mud race, but there had actually been like a
torrential downpour, so it was even worse and I was
anticipated and I lost my shoe in the first ten seconds. Nice. Yeah,
I've been tempted to try those, but then after I
(01:11):
was told you get shocked, I was like, no, why,
there's one thing to go through some like mud and
crawl and try to climb things. But purposely try to
hurt me. Why that's an interesting window into the human psyche.
I think, right, and we already know like things live
with in that like to push your endurance. Those can
(01:31):
be really hard for your body. And half marathons were
hard enough for me. So I was like, no, I'm good.
I think I'm good. Although I would really like to
do the trail running the mountain runs, but again i'm good. Yeah. Yeah,
that's how I broke my ankle on the trail run once,
and like, I love those things and I think that's
(01:52):
what I would ultimately prefer, but I'm so clumsy, and
that experience kind of draping Rick story. Yeah, I don't
blame you. I think I would be the same way
because I always talk about how every time I hike,
at least once every few months, I twist my ankle.
And so as a part of my trail hike stuff,
you know, you have your little backpack and you have
your items. I always have an aspandage because I've twisted
(02:17):
my ankle so many times. But that's not why we're here,
not particularly, And just to put this cabinet in here,
as with anything when we're talking about international people in
international events. Please excuse if we do mispronounce any of
the things. And I say that in all of everything,
because we want to really highlight these amazing people who
(02:40):
may not be well known or who may not be
as famous as some others, and therefore it's harder to
find pronunciations. Yes, but we don't want that to stop
us from talking about and giving the accolades that they deserve. Yeah,
so I just go ahead and put this little cave
you on here. But today we are talking about in
Tumpics in two Fonzi, who is an ultra runner from
(03:02):
South Africa and has become an advocate for survivors of
ripe and violence around the world and to her community.
Funzi grew up near Willoville in the Eastern Cape and
is known as one of the top women runners in
the country, winning a race after race. But in sixteen,
Funzi was hospitalized after being brutally attacked and raped a
(03:22):
day before one of her big races. Though she had
been beaten and severely traumatized, Fonzi decided she would still run.
The next day. She stated, I said to myself, I'm
not going to let the devil win again. I'm going
to do what I came here for, which is running,
and she did. She collapsed as she crossed the finish
line and the crowd chanted her name in support. Right
(03:44):
and knowing she's not the only one to go through
such a traumatic and painful experience, She's been a fierce
advocate for rape survivors and has used her voice to
bring awareness in jatabased violence around her community. According to
some recent data from the South African Police Service, around
two thousand seven dred women were murdered from twenty nineteen
to twenty and though many organizations continue to try to
(04:06):
get an accurate picture of what is happening when it
comes to gender based violence in different areas, the stats
remain unclear. There have been reports that there has been
an increase of gender based crimes, and that obviously doesn't
include those who don't or can't report these incidents for
whatever reason. In many protests were led demanding government action,
(04:27):
which did result in the implementation of the National Strategic
Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide, which would address accountability, prevention, research,
and economic support. It was a lot of a significant
amount of funds, however, due to COVID it was diverted right,
and there has been a lot of pressure from activists
and organizations around the world and in the community. Because
(04:51):
of the lockdown, there has been an even bigger increase
of gender based violence and domestic violence in that community,
and they have been talking about having to do new
programs and or relook at how to get more money
to be able to fund preventative as well as support
for those organizations that are already on the ground trying
to make a difference in trying to make change. And
(05:12):
as we talked about it, she actually was one of
the few who was able to get a pretty swift arrest.
Her attacker was arrested four days after and found and
has been in jail. However, the process in order for
them to go to trial was dragged out, and she
even commented at one point that she thinks this is
part of the reason why people don't report, and she said, quote,
I'm really thankful for the police work, but I feel
(05:34):
like the justice system relaxed after the rapist was arrested.
This closure was so important to me. This postponement was
really killing me um and she talked about how again
that if they were to prioritize possibly rape cases in
court and provide sensitivity training that it would help women
feel safe to be able to report more as In fact,
in twenty twenty, she decided to do more to bring
(05:58):
awareness of gunior based violence and became a speaker for
the sixteen Days of Activism campaign and on her own
social media, she started the hashtag I Choose to be
a Victor and not a victim, saying that she wanted
to be able to not only talk about what happened
to her as a way of giving support to other survivors,
but also be a mentor for them and be a
(06:19):
support for them that needed to talk to her as well.
She said she has had many survivors to contact her
and tell her of the stories and just thank her
for her encouragement and her increased support and advocacy, and
her using her voice again and again and again. She
also started working within the system as well to help
provide some of these services for the women for the
survivors too, So I thought that was really incredible. I
(06:41):
feel that way too. I've often felt like that's why
I became a social workers, because I wanted to be
a part of the change, and that was obviously something
that was important to her as well, and she talks
about how she wants to continue to make changes within
not only her community but in her government in order
to get more support for the women and the survivors.
(07:03):
And it's also inspired her to pursue a degree in
psychology and work as a counselor. Again, I think that
this's just phenomenal and just while she is a top
ten finisher at the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town
that she did in and she was training to make
the top five this year, but of course because of Corona,
the race was canceled. But it's really interesting to see
(07:23):
that not only an incident that could have stopped her
completely that she had felt like was one of the
most traumatic moments because I don't know, I don't know
if I could, I don't know if I could be
that person to say I can do this, but to
get up the next day from the hospital after and um,
we didn't talk specifically about the incident that she went through,
(07:44):
but she did get hit in the head with a hammer,
and the fact that she went through this and was
able to step back out and say no, I will
not let this get me down. That's inspirational. Of course,
not everyone has to be like that, but it is
lovely to see that she was able to triumph and
to get justice as well. Yeah, very inspiring, and I
do love seeing all the advocacy, all the various ways
(08:07):
she's pursuing that, and that she's getting a psychology degree.
That's that's amazing. Yes, well, listeners, if you have any
women around the world that we should spotlight, please send
them to us. We always love your suggestions. You can
email us at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at i heeart
media dot com. You can find us on Instagram, and
Stuff I've Never Told You are on Twitter app, Mom
(08:27):
Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina.
Thank you Christina, and thanks to you for listening Stuff
I've Never Told You protection of I Heart Radio. For
more podcast from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Samantha McVey
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.