Productive resources

Mamy Tiana Yvonne is living in the urban council of Mahajanga, which has been part of the Gender Links (GL) centre of excellence process since 2013. She is one of the beneficiaries of the entrepreneurship project led by GL in 2014.

Mamy lives alone her with two children; she takes the role of mother and father at the same time. Being a survivor of violence for years, she decided to break up with her husband one year ago. Currently, she affirms that she is satisfied with her life as she has managed to be financially independent, thanks to GL’s training. Mamy came to know GL in 2014. The paralegals at the counseling centre in her council encouraged her to participate in the training, which she attended rigorously.

She is a young Mosotho woman who survives by selling fruit and vegetables at the taxi rank. She has been doing that for a very long time now and this is how she manages to pay her children’s school fees. Cheche was married to a man that she did not know at all, she saw him for the first time when he was already her husband. They lived together without any problems for almost two years as she learnt to love and appreciate him as her partner. He was working on the mines in South Africa meaning that most of the time he was not around and Cheche was the one looking after their children, ensuring that they could go to school. Her husband stopped coming home and Cheche was struggling with the children and everybody knew that it was really hard for her and that is why her councillor contacted her first when he heard about the Gender Links (GL) entrepreneurship programme.

Verosoa Patricia is member of the committee for the fight against violence in the urban council of Manjakandriana, part of the Centre of Excellence (COE) process since 2010. The urban council of Manjakandriana is located 50 kilometres from the capital and has an engaged woman as a mayor. Thanks to the mayor’s leadership, the council is implementing several projects for the improvement of women’s status, especially in the domain of health, women’s access to land and finance, and other gender related activities.

Celestine is a 45 year-old woman, married with two children. Her business focusses on selling vegetables and fish in the local market. Coming from a modest family, Celestine has been used to a precarious way of living since her childhood.

During her married life she endured all kinds of violence inflicted on her by her husband. Overwhelmed by the harshness of her daily life, she decided to find an activity that would improve her income. It was during that time that she encountered Ms Rasoaminiry, counsellor of the council. Ms Rasoamaniry encouraged her to participate in the training offered by GL.

Marcelline Razafindrasoa got to know Gender Links (GL) in 2014 through the listening and counselling centre of Antananarivo. Being one of the beneficiaries of the entrepreneurship project, she has followed all the phases of the training, namely on gender issues, drafting a business plan, the management of resources and self-confidence.

Marcelline has experienced violence for years. Her husband has not ceased to mistreat her since the birth of her first child: expulsion, drunkenness and insults, which always ended in physical violence. At that time, she had just enough money to buy food; her child was just three months old. Her neighbours helped her during that painful period. Supported by her friends, she had the idea of selling cooked cassava, which allowed her to slightly improve her income.

Nonhlanhla Mpanza was physically abused on an almost a daily basis, be it broad daylight, in front of her children and at times in front of neighbours who watched without coming to her rescue. She had reported her problems to the chief’s residence and they could not assist, instead the beatings escalated as her husband punished her for reporting him. She reported the matter to her husband’s church where he is one of the most holy of congregants, but behold, the beatings never stopped. In pain and dismay, feeling empty, hopeless and bleeding after yet another brutal beating she approached the police, although not to arrest the father of her children, but running into the night just to keep away from him until he calmed down.

“I would like to thank Gender Links for the work that has been done in empowering women with business skills, not only in Mandlakazi, but also in other councils. Although I recognise what GL has done and is still doing, I encourage GL to extend the programme for more councils because, based on my experience, there are many women out there who need to be trained in order to grow socially and economically. GL should continue training, monitoring and evaluating as it is doing now to see and listen to the changes happening in women’s lives”.

During these workshops she learnt a lot about gender based violence and as we speak she is aware and assertive about issues of gender and human rights. It was unbelievable, but with grace she won the battle and even now quite a number of women ask her how she managed to survive that abusive relationship. She is always delighted to testify how GL helped her out of that miserable life. She is now a self-assured woman with dignity, all because of GL and she constantly provides guidance to these women on issues around fighting GBV at both a personal and community level. Currently the women consider her as their role model and some of them now live positive lives, free from GBV.

“My life has really changed, so much so that I am able to encourage other women to change their lives. I have been sharing the knowledge I gained from Gender Links about business plans and how they work with the women from the community. With this knowledge I was encouraged to go out there and ask for funds from the government to start my business. I have gained high self-esteem and that makes me believe in everything I doÀ says Olebile Moesi from Serowe in Botswana.

“During our first training with Gender Links, we were encouraged to share our experiences as a way of healing. One woman told us her experience, it was very touching and funny because she said her husband would beat her for allowing her parents to visit them but when the parents were there he acted as if everything was fine and he complained to them about not visiting. This made me realise that my life’s challenges were not as bad as I learnt that other people are more abused, especially by their boyfriends or husbands. Money is always the main cause of this,À says Kelebogile.

When she finished her entrepreneurship training, she met different people who were abused and some believed that drinking alcohol was a solution. She shared with them her experiences and how she got help and she also shared with them the knowledge she gained from Gender Links. She saw a lot of change in some of them because they stopped drinking and they are getting help from social workers. She is helping others to learn how to do beading because that is the business she is currently doing.

“My journey with Gender Links was quite interesting. I met them through a neighbour; she was very worried about how much alcohol I drank. She told me about the workshops that were to be hosted by Gender Links. Previously I attended counselling at Lesedi Counselling Centre but I was not committed, I attended Gender Links training just to see if it was interesting. During this training they talked about the dangers of alcohol abuse. I was motivated and felt encouraged to change my life. In 2014 I decided to take action and change my life. I stopped going out drinking with the group of girls I used to hang out with. I have learnt quite a lot from the training so I decided to stop drinking and start building a brighter future for myself,À Thapelo confides.

The first time I was called to attend a workshop with Gender Links I was shocked and happy at the same time because I had never heard about this programme. I thought that it was only for people living with HIV and AIDS. Since then I have become a young woman who is a pillar of strength who managed to escape from an abusive marriage. So many women are in abusive marriages like me and I have helped many of them through sharing experiences and advising as I was encouraged to do by Gender Links. Mostly I advise the women to seek help because am not trained to give advice. Although some criticised me saying that I am a failure in my marriage, I am still standing proud and happy