No longer a punching bag

Friday, October 28, 2016

Isatu Barrie is a 42-year-old woman who lives in Bongema village, Jaiama Nimikoro, Chiefdom in the Kono district, Eastern Sierra Leone. She is happy and proud of  the many good that World Vision has done in her community, but is most proud of the fact that, through World Vision’s interventions in setting up a Mothers Club in her community and teaching them attitudinal change and gender-friendly programmes, they (women) ceased being punching bags in the hands of their men.

Isatu was giving this testimony in the presence of  cross section of World Vision Sierra Leone’s Advisory Council members (in the persons of Reverend Canon Dr. Modupe Tayloy-Pearce, Chair, Mr. Joe Abass Bangura, Vice Chair, Mrs. Millicent Lavalie, member, Mr. Christian Johnson, member) who were on a field visit to one of  World Vision’s Area Development Programmes in Jaiama Nimikor, in late September 2016 after an Advisory Council retreat, with a view to assessing progress made by WVSL on that side as FY 16 was nearing its end.

Isatu is  a member of the  Bongema  Mother’s Club. The mothers’ club performs a multi-faceted function in Bongema community, some of which are to: advise other  pregnant and/lactating mothers on exclusive breastfeeding, give healthy diets to children, taking them to the hospital when they fall ill to protect them from child-related abuses, settle minor disputes in the community and domestic violence, among others.

It was super interesting for the writer of this piece to discover that men stopped being boxers because of the engagement of Mothers’ Club. What a unique discovery this is!

In most parts of Africa in general and Sierra Leone in particular,  a lot of men are notorious for beating their women.

‘’We were like beating drums in the hands of our men. But things have changed now. And we owe this change to World Vision for haven set up the Mothers Club in our community,’’ says Isatu.

This change of attitude is also having a positive effect on the children, too. ‘’In the past, we too (women/mothers) used to beat our children. But this has also changed due to our involvement with the mothers’ group,’’ she confesses.

It is interesting to note that this change of attitude cuts across. Men too believe their women’s attitudes have changed because of their involvement with the mothers’ group in Bongema.

Ibrahim Mansaray, 38-year-old man (an indigene of Bongema) says, we stopped beating our women because they have stopped doing the things they used to—the things that made us beat them.’’

What a healthy balance! A violence-free society is all the world deserves. Children deserve to grow up in a conducive environment where they are free from fear, battering and the worst nightmares of the world. The home is supposed to be a safe haven and not a place where children’s happiness is hampered.

Like 15-year-old Saffiatu Marrah put it (quoting the bible in ), …bring up the child in the way they should grow. And when they are old it will not depart from them.’’

This quotation by Saffiatu blew the mind of the Advisory Council Chair who held the hands of Saffiatu in singing a song on the subject matter.

A child shouldn’t grow in an environment where the father beats up the mother. If that child is a boy, he grows up with it and will probably put it into practice one day. A child who receives strokes of the cane from his/her parents, grows up with the mentality of beating his/hers in the future.

The issue of gender-based violence reaches every corner of the world. The numbers of women and girls affected by this problem are staggering. According to World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2013, one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some other way – most often by someone she knows. One in five women is sexually abused as a child, according to a 2014 report.

WHO's data also indicates that women who have been physically or sexually abused are 16 per cent more likely to have a low-birth-weight baby, and they are twice as likely to have an abortion. In some regions, they are 50 per cent more likely to acquire HIV, according to a 2013 report from UNAIDS.

Gender-based violence is not only a violation of individual women’s and girls’ rights. The impunity enjoyed by perpetrators, and the fear generated by their actions, has an effect on all women and girls. It also takes a toll on a global level, stunting the contributions women and girls can make to international development, peace and progress. (UNFPA REPORT 2013)

World Vision is running a Global Campaign against all forms of abuse of children. And this is the way to go!

Women of Bongema has raised the bar by first putting an end to wife beatings in their communities.