KaBokweni Anglican Church hosts GBV awareness session to break the silence in society

The initiative educated the community members of KaBokweni about speaking out about gender-based violence as and when it rears its ugly head. It helped them to learn the various ways to open up when abused.

Rev Lungile Gwala, Tiny Mathebula, Bp Haward Thwala, Margaret Mazibuko and Rev Shadrek Ngutjane.

As a way to break the silence in local churches, St Mary’s Anglican Church in Ngodini hosted a gender-based violence awareness campaign on Human Rights’ Day on March 21.

The aim of the initiative was to educate the members and the community about the importance of knowing their rights, about human trafficking and to remind them that a church is a safe place for any victim of GBV.

Guest at the awareness day. Photo Xolisile Mbatha

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This event was attended by members of GRIP, the Heartlines organisation and the Department of Social Development.

According to Pr Shadrek Ngutjane, the Ngodini area is one of the hotspots of GBV, a fact that is based on the research done by GRIP. About five cases per day are reported at its care rooms at the KaBokweni Police Station and Themba Hospital.

“Churches in the Lowveld need to unite and make it a norm to preach about GBV. A lot of the members believe that things can be fixed only by prayer, meanwhile, they hide the fact that they are being abused at home, especially children and women.”

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Nelisiwe Thobejane, a social worker, said that the young people have to be careful about how they use social media, as many cases about human trafficking are allegedly contributed to this. “Young people must avoid accepting friend requests from people they do not know. This puts them in danger and churches must speak about this in their Sunday school classes.”