A woman is murdered every 4 hours in South Africa and at least half of these women die at the hands of their intimate partners.
Over 40 000 cases of rape were opened in police stations around the country last year.
In 2017, 985 children were killed.
Three in four murders of children aged 0-4 occur in the context of abuse by a caregiver at home.
Looking at these statistics, it is very easy to become overwhelmed and throw our hands up in defeat. How can we ever fix a society which is so evidently broken?
But there are those among us who get up every morning ready to fight this scourge in our society one case at a time, one child at a time, one law at a time.
Sunday is the launch of the annual national campaign: 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children. In support of this, Independent Media has its Don't Look Away campaign.
For the next few weeks, IOL will be speaking to people who Don't Look Away, in fact, they are at the front-line of this one of the greatest battles facing our democratic South Africa.
We will speak to a cop who spends his days hunting serial rapists, a social worker dealing with abused children, a prosecutor fighting for justice for child victims, activists working at NGOs, amongst others.
With this series we hope to create a glimmer of hope - the war is not lost, battles are being fought on many fronts.
We salute you, the brave soldiers.
* Talk to us on social media using the #DontLookAway hashtag or email us at iolletters@inl.co.za