Hands off our Women and Children Centre is a haven for the battered

With the escalation in gender-based violence in recent years, women and children are continuously falling prey to human predators.

The Msukaligwa region and Gert Sibande District as a whole has not been exempt from this and an alarming number of women and children have been victims and statistics of this crime.

The Hands off our Women and Children Centre in Breyten is doing its best to curb this injustice.

A safe haven for battered women and children, the staff of the centre have seen the worst when it comes to physical, emotional, financial and all kinds of abuse.

The centre was the brainchild of Ms Mphali who witnessed a man in her neighbourhood chopping up his mother with an axe and burying her in a shallow grave.

That horrifying experience urged her to stand up and fight to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Established in March 2015, Ms Mphali and her team began volunteering, talking to residents, creating awareness and encouraging victims to seek help when they are abused.

This non-profit organisation had no money, only a passion and a drive, using their own resources to educate the community of Breyten.

They were finally recognised by the Department of Social Development in 2016 that funded the organisation and the centre has grown from strength to strength.

“At some point, we had nothing but the change in our pockets. However, we persevered,” Ms Mphali said.

The centre now caters for the whole of Msukaligwa as it is the only victim empowerment centre in the region.

Monitored by Social Development, the centre has grown in staff with a social worker on sight to counsel victims.

It is situated in the old clinic in Breyten.

While the Highvelder was interviewing Ms Mphali, three women arrived at the centre to seek help.

The centre provides shelter for not more than six months during which victims are given counselling, basic hygiene items and food.

They are also enrolled into the empowerment programme where they are armed with knowledge, skills and information to survive once they return home.

With such a job, Ms Mphali and her staff see more bad than good and it takes all their strength to not give up when a victim goes back to her abuser.

“It is a hard job and emotionally scarring, but we also constantly receive counselling.”

The centre works hand in hand with community stakeholders, including the police, as perpetrators have been known to come to the centre to look for their victims.

That does not deter the staff though and they have beefed up the security to keep victims safe at all cost.

However, the centre is facing problems with the buildings deteriorating, and limited funds.

Community members are urged to donate clothes and food or any other items that will help Ms Mphali and her staff to run this safe haven.

“We get funding from Social Development, but so many things are needed to keep the centre open.”

Despite limited resources, Ms Mphali has big plans for the centre.

“I want to offer classes to the victims, such as computer classes so that once they leave the centre, they will also have some sort of qualification.”

Ms Mphali also wants to add a surgical room and hire a full-time nurse who will be able to examine victims without them having to go to the clinic or hospital.

The staff of Hands off our Women and Children are no men-bashers though, they even counsel families to help build healthy relationships in society.

“We urge anyone who is in a domestic violence situation to come see us, we never turn anyone away,” Ms Mphali concluded.