Meme women sensitized on gender-based violence

By Atemnkeng Evaristius in Kumba
A one day capacity building workshop to raise awareness among community leaders on the fight against gender-based violence was held in Kumba on 15 July 2015.
    Organized by the Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child, CAPEC, a subsidiary of the Eramus+ Programme of the European Union, the workshop at the Women’s Empowerment Center dueled essentially on how to “fight against sexual violence against women and young girls”.
    It brought together close to 50 women from all walks of life including representatives of religious groups as well as social and cultural groups across Meme Division.
    Facilitating the workshop, Mrs. Adeline Sede Kamga, Publisher of the Fab Afriq Magazine, said women refuse to complain about violence at their matrimonial settings even though they are victims. She regretted that at times women do not know that they are being violated upon.
     “We are out to sensitize community leaders on how they can identify emotional and physical violence and ways through which it can be reduced or completely eliminated,” Adeline noted, adding that "many women who are being violated upon are afraid to come out and denounce it in the public simply because they are trying to be protective of their husbands.”

    Adeline expressed the hope that after sensitizing and raising awareness among the participants, they will go back to their various communities and educate other women on the need to denounce and report cases of violence that they suffer.
Adeline Sede used the workshop to call on parents to be extremely vigilant in their dealings with children who are the most exposed to violence. She also recommended dialogue within the family and counseling as a means towards combating gender-based violence.
    The CEO of Fab Afriq Magazine urged the women to be peace-makers in their families and to refrain from acts of domestic violence.
    The workshop had a working session where-by participants were divided in to groups. There was also a question and answer session. Some participants were also given the opportunity to make testimonies on gender-based violence that they suffered or witnessed.
    The one day workshop was moderated by Mrs. Ajomozu Collette Bekaku, CEO of CAPEC and coordinated by Mr. Mbi Ayamba Elvis, CAPEC project coordinator in Meme Division.