Jane Iram Lapipe – Mauritius

Through Gender Links I have learnt about the reality that our society is facing.

My first encounter with Gender Links was quite unexpected as I did not expect to spend six weeks at the office during my holidays. I was really excited on the eve on my internship. I was very happy to acquire and put into practice what I had learnt during my course as I am currently a third year student doing a B Sc in Sociology (Specialisation: Gender Studies). Gender Links has exposed me to the harsh realities in our society, such as gender based violence.

On my first day of my internship, Ghirish Abdhoosee, who was the Assistant Programme Officer at that time, showed me how to read and make a critical analysis of newspaper articles. This has completely changed my way of reading newspapers. He also taught me how to upload some surveys and while doing this work I learnt about the way of thinking of people in Mauritius. Mrs Loga Virahsawmy, the former director of Gender Links at that time, sent me to take down ‘I’ stories of gender based violence (GBV) and this helped me a lot as I was exposed to the reality faced by our country. I also had the opportunity to help during a workshop organised by Gender Links. It has inspired me to see the amazing work that Gender Links is doing, such as fighting gender based violence as well as making people understand that it is important that both men and women are equal.

GL has given me the opportunity to improve my writing skills and also to grow up. I have learned through Gender Links that if you really want something you need to grab the opportunity whenever it is presented to you. I realise also how important it is to plan everything in life so that you are not late in submitting your assignments. This helped me a lot in my student life as now I really understand the importance of time.

I try as hard as I can to raise awareness among my friends at university and also at home. When reading an article in the newspaper, my little brother always asked different questions and I am grateful I can answer them as I learnt about these issues during my internship. It is fantastic that my little brother has also developed immense concern about domestic violence issues and he has helped me to do surveys in my area to understand more about the mentality of people.

I think it is important for the young generation to stand up and do what other great people do, such as Mother Teresa. I always try to put into practice the principle she taught: ÌŽIt is not how much we give, but how much we put into giving. ÌŽ

This year Mrs Anushka Virahsawmy has given me the opportunity to take testimonies of GBV survivors. My challenge was that I needed to search for most of the women from Riviere du Rempart and then go into the field all alone, but this was a very good experience as I learnt to be more independent. For the moment, all I want is to succeed in my exams and I will continue to help people in my community as this is the kind of job that I want to do. I will always be grateful to my mentors, Mrs Loga Virahsawmy and Mrs Anushka Virahsawmy, for giving me the opportunity to both improve and learn.