Gender Imbizo for young women and mothers of children with disabilities in Alex

The Afrika Tikkun’s Empowerment Programme hosted its annual Gender Imbizo for young women and mothers of children with disabilities in Alexandra’s Phuthaditjhaba Centre.

Women who are part of the self-help groups and dedicated to supporting one another in advocacy to protect, defend and gain access to important rights including health, education, justice and public amenities, converged in Alex from Tikkun’s other centres in Braamfontein, Diepsloot and Orange Farm.

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Chris Maseko, a self-advocacy groups coordinator of Afrika Tikkun’s Empowerment Programme, said they have since formed advocacy and empowerment groups for children of various age groups such as the Anti-Violence (AV) Buddies group for children of primary school going age.

Groups were also established for Young Urban Women for grades 8 to 12, Young Urban Men for the same grades, as well as a Young Urban Citizens group for post matric and upwards, both male and female, and a Self-Help Group for mothers of children with disabilities, said Maseko.

The Alex self-help group is known as Dimpho Tsa Rona [our gifts], the group from Uthando in Braamfontein is known as Help@Hand, the one from Orange Farm is Sidinga Uthando [we need love] while the Diepsloot one is Dishumeleng [stand up for yourselves].

As part of Women’s Month, Maseko said they designed a programme in which all these groups could come together and celebrates their achievements so far and also highlight the challenges they still face, one of which is still gender-based violence.

Maseko said workshops are often held where the young girls and women’s groups are taught about gender-based violence using the tool ‘Say No to GBV’ while sharing their experiences at the same time.

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Dimpho Tsa Rona is involved in campaigns that seek to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities in the various community activities that take place. “We don’t want the children with disabilities to be discriminated against, hence we request the community to support the programmes of Dimpho Tsa Rona. Those who want to find out more are free to come to the Phuthaditjhaba Centre,” Maseko said.

Meanwhile, Bukeka Mjindi, a member of Dimpho Tsa Rona, said such support groups were vital as mothers get to share crucial and helpful information for the upbringing of their children with disabilities.

Details: Chris Maseko 087 150 2079.