Awareness SADC Gender Protocol

Alderman Resta Dzvinyangoma is the first-born daughter in a family of three girls and two boys. She was deprived of the right to finish her secondary school education by her […]

One of the most memorable experiences that I have had with Gender Links was our first meeting where all of the survivors told their own stories and I told my story to others who were just like me. We all learned that we are not alone and that other people understand us. I felt free and all of us cried. It was a defining moment for me.

  I am a married woman aged 66. I have twelve children and sixteen grandchildren. I am a farmer and a gender activist, having worked as a facilitator with development […]

Name Felicia Surname Motinga Country Namibia Give a short history of the leader Attending more in Gender links programs workshops, Mini, National and Regional summits and compete with different .Where […]

“Women have a great role to play in the community” Thanks to interactions with Gender Links, Noeline could learn about Gender mainstreaming, in 2008 . She already knew about women’s […]

Claire raised her six children alone after she had been a victim of intimate partner violence for years. After she worked with Gender Links (GL), her life really changed. She gained theoretical knowledge and practical experience she had never thought she would ever have. The concept of gender is one of the things she learnt. Previously, she believed that when we talk about gender we refer to women, while gender is ultimately a concept related to the social construction, women are perceived as weak and passive and are associated with the domestic and private world, while men are seen as strong and enterprising in the public world.

Edwina Kapfudza recalls the day she met her ward councillor and how she was introduced to Gender Links (GL). This took place at a time when she least expected any help from anyone with regard to her experience of gender based violence (GBV). Prior to the introductions, the council held a meeting with the identified survivors of GBV. The idea was to know more about the women’s experiences of GBV before referring them to GL.

I am a handicapped woman and the mother of two children. I suffered from a partial body paralysis after the birth of my daughter 13 years ago and with time my condition deteriorated and I became completely bed ridden. Before the birth of my daughter I used to work in a hotel and helped my family, but after my illness I lost the job. I lost everything. I accepted loneliness as part of my fate. I truly ended up believing that there was no future for handicapped people. However, my good friend Priscilla Bignoux stood by me. She helped me to start going out and mingling with people again. It was only then that I started to see the bright side of life. I started smiling once again.

Masamba joined GL in July 2014 after being introduced by Zvimba Rural District Council. She enrolled in the entrepreneurship training and was equipped with relevant business skills. The training taught her about all forms of GBV and how to fight domestic violence. Before the training she was thinking that she should focus on just forgetting her past experience of GBV. Later on she discovered that the only way to bury the past and continue with life is through occupying your mind with productive things.

Sithembile attended all of the stages of the entrepreneurship programme and was one of the most active participants during the training. She shared her “IÀ story with the group and had a small business of her own, operating it from her house. When she spoke she emphasised the tendency of women to be financially dependent on their spouses and this perpetuates gender violence at household level. She stresses that women should be empowered to be their own bosses.

Saima Shivolo, a resident of Oshikuku, originally from Umbalanhu village in the Omusati region, was married for three years and is a mother of six with four other children in her care. Although she is employed as a police officer, her monthly income could not sustain her monthly expenses like taking care of the children, paying their school fees and making sure there is bread on the table. Thus she opened a restaurant in Oshikuku to feed her community members and visitors, because she saw the need for cooked food in her area.