Award winning Afro-pop singer, Amanda Black is embarking on a campaign aimed at empowering women who are currently in toxic relationships.
The singer will be visiting shelters and homes to encourage, strengthen and talk to all those who are in the dire situation.
She has already commenced with her campaign in Cape Town and she will be visiting other cities across the country in April.
During an exclusive interview with Polokwane Observer at Meropa Casino and Entertainment World last Thursday Black said the campaign would enable her to bring strength and encourage to women who feel that they are trapped in toxic situations. “I have noticed that most women and young girls are afraid to speak on the issues of abuse. We want them to speak, love themselves and empower each other. We will also be teaching young men to respect girls because so that they grow up knowing the value of a woman,” Black said.
The former Idols contestant said she would be using her latest single ‘Thandwa Ndim’, loosely translated as ‘You will be loved by me’, during the campaign.
She said she wrote the song after seeing a news report of yet another South African woman who was killed by her partner. “I want these women to understand that they are not alone and that they are truly loved. This will be my voice to call on women to encircle, with non-judgmental love, those struggling to leave an abusive relationship.”
In this call to action, Black says she was unmistakably championing women’s empowerment built on empathising with those who are struggling to extract themselves from complex situations. “You can never have unity without compassion and empathy,” the singer said.
“My wish for this song is that it makes people stop and think more deeply about the lives of other women. We live in such a fragmented world, one in which our sense of community is broken. But I believe that we must begin to feel again if we are to join the circle of love that women need to be enveloped in, if they are to leave.”
Story and photo: Herbert Rachuene
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