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TUESDAY 14 July 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Restoring dignity KAYLYNNE BANTOM KAYLYNNE.BANTOM@MEDIA24.COM
“E
mpowering girls to make them realise that they were born to make an impact.” This was the key message that Kensington police members wished to instil in teen girls during an awareness programme held at the Kensington Baptist church on Wednesday 8 July. The event was organised by Kensington police station and targeted a group of about 30 girls aged 10 to 18. They received motivational talks from various organisations. Kensington police spokesperson Sgt Angeline Ah-sing said the aim was to address the surge in gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa. She added that the group had been educated about all forms of violence. The girls were also encouraged to speak out and not to allow anyone to mistreat them. “We partnered with our counterparts at Table Bay Harbour police and Dignity Campaign to try and make our girls feel special and to take the opportunity to educate them on Covid-19 regulations and precautions.” Ah-sing said a speaker from gender rights group Sonke Gender Justice addressed the group and informed them about sexual offences. “We were honoured to have two station commanders addressing the girls and gave them the assurance that if they have any problems they would be addressed and that they have a friend in the police.” The officer said the idea was also to keep the girls occupied for a few hours. “We know many of our youth are struggling with a new normal and isolation and wanted to give them a little time away from their homes.” Chrystal Kannemeyer, the operating manager for the non-profit organisation (NPO) Dignity Project, said events like these were important. The NPO aims to empower young people to find their identity, belonging and purpose in God. “With programmes like these,
A young girl opens her Dignity Pack that contains three washable or reusable pads, soap, and a facecloth. we can encourage young people to surround themselves with positive people or friends,” explained Kannemeyer. She said the NPO was currently running a fundraising campaign entitled Donate for Dignity, which aims to supply girls with sanitary products. “With the Covid-19 lockdown in the country, many communities are in desperate need of food and other resources. Buying sanitary products becomes a secondary product and we want to assist by giving girls a dignity pack.” She said a dignity pack contains three washable or reusable pads, soap, and a facecloth. She added that, with the reusable pads, girls would be able to care for their bodies with dignity during their periods. “When families lack the resources to buy menstrual products, girls resort to using unsanitary items like toilet paper, newspaper, or socks during their periods, which can lead to an infection.
Washable pads last for up to five years.” She explained that each girl who attended the event on Wednesday was supplied with a dignity pack. The NPO aims to supply 1 000 dignity packs to girls countrywide. Ah-sing said the programme also allowed for the teenagers to bury any negative thoughts that hindered them from living their true potential. “We had a ‘funeral’ where the girls wrote any negative thing that was said to them on a piece paper, look at it for the last time and told to tear the paper up, put it in an envelope and buried it in a box so they will no longer identify with that negative word or feeling.” Ah-sing thanked donors who came on board and supplied the children with food parcels which they could take home to their families. She said the donations were enough for at least two to three days.
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Churches robbed of respect KAYLYNNE BANTOM
gants at one time). However, Abrahams says the church took a collective decision to remain closed. Abrahams says thieves have also removed the roof tiling of the church. “This has caused extra damage to the ceiling when it rained, especially in the kitchen.” The priest says, in a bid to feed hungry parishioners and the wider community affected by the lockdown, they have started a food security programme with the help of generous donors. He encouraged people to start taking pride in religious institutions again. “People knew places of worship were important back in the day. It was a safe haven to some, a place of light and hope. But all that respect is gone.” Abrahams claims most of the criminal activities are carried out by young people, something he describes as discouraging. “All of us are struggling. There is a deep sense of desperation, but that still doesn’t warrant desecrating a place of worship.” The priest says his prayer is that everything will change and for people to start realising the importance of places of worship again.
“Respect for sacred places of worship has gone out of the window.” So says Joshua Abrahams, a priest at St Timothy’s Anglican church in Factreton. Abrahams believes, with several churches and other religious institutions yet to reopen after months of national lockdown, opportunistic criminals are seeing churches as easy targets. Abrahams explains his church was left without electricity for an entire week after thieves stole its meter box. Cathy Scholtz, a parishioner and council member at the church, says she lives opposite the building and often goes to check on it. However, she was left furious on Friday 25 June when she discovered thieves had pounced. “I went to check like I normally do. When I tried to switch on the light, that’s when I noticed the box was stolen,” she says. Scholtz says this made the building vulnerable as the alarm system was also deactivated in the process. She says it’s devastating to see how people can vandalise a church building. “I have seen how this church was built since I have lived here for the past 62 years. This is a house of the Lord and they have no respect.” The meter box has since been replaced, but Abrahams is worried about the cost. “We were told that the box costs well over R2 000.” A financial burden that the church, like many other religious institutions, can ill afford. With the easing of the lockdown regulations under level three, churches are again allowed to operate un- Thieves targeted St Timothy’s der strict health protocols Anglican church in Factreton, (no more than 50 congre- stealing its electricity meter box.