Cutting: Why teens turn to self-harm when they don’t have words for their pain

Cutting: Why teens turn to self-harm when they don’t have words for their pain

The tattoos on Zandile Simelane’s arms tell a story that most people can’t read. Hidden beneath the delicate blue ink of flowers and butterflies, small white scars rise, remnants of the time when cutting herself seemed like the only way to express how much she was hurting.”I didn’t want to die,” the now 31-year-old told Bhekisisa’s television programme, Health Beat, about her teenage self. “I just needed someone to help me through the pain. A pa…