16 Days of Activism 2012

Over three quarters (77%) of women in Limpopo; 51% of women in Gauteng; 45% of women in the Western Cape and 36% of women in KwaZulu Natal report experiencing some form of violence (emotional, economic, physical or sexual) at least once in their lifetime both within and outside their intimate relationships.

Activities and events

Welcome to the 16 Days daily news! Today’s theme is Peace begins at home. The theme will look at the extent and effects of GBV, response, support and prevention strategies for GBV.

On the 28th of July 2012, we were walking from a funeral and it was dark. I was with two other women, and it was not that dark because other people were still walking around. Whilst we were walking we heard somebody whistling, but we did not hear where it was coming from, so we just continued on our journey.
When we got to the mountain, we walked through and we saw a person standing where we were supposed to pass. We were so afraid, especially because it was dark, but when he realised we saw him, he hid himself in a nearby bush. We tried to walk very fast so that he would not see us anymore, but he was very clever because he was hiding where we were going to pass.

Bozy and Lejao were married legally on 16 June 1978, and they have seven children; five boys and two girls, the youngest is 17. Lejao is a team leader in a big company, yet up to now, he has never told his wife how much money he makes. Bozy is a woman who is active, and earns money in various ways: she acted as an estate agent selling pieces of land, she collected litchis, and etc. Thus, they could enjoy quite a good living standard.

  English Portuguese French Monday, 26 November – Peace begins at home Peace in the home, peace in the community Staying strong in the midst   of a storm Momento […]

1. All cyberdialogues will happen from 13h00 to 14h00 South Africa time.2. Mauritius has a separate programme linked to the launch of their GBV Indicators research and will run cyber […]

It was on the 28th of November, 2000, when my life changed for the worse. It was in the summer and in a rural village that we normally went to in order to visit the rivers and clean our feet. We wanted to prepare for Christmas, so that when the 25th of December came, we would look beautiful and clean especially because we would wear new clothes that day. It was very hot, and I decided that I should go and clean my feet. I asked my friends to go with me, but they were all busy. I had already told my self that I was going, so I went anyway. Besides, it was not far from our village and I had been there many times before and nothing had happened to us.

My name is Mantebaleng Ramokhele and I live in the Mohale’s Hoek district in Lesotho. I was married to a man that I was dearly in love with. Even today, I still do not understand what happened to him and why he changed so much. He was like somebody new to me, I really did not know him anymore and when I asked him about it, he would get very angry and start to beat me up.

This story takes place in a village about 50 km from town. A 16 year old girl, whose name was Lova, went to study there. Many youngsters from the countryside did the same, and Lova was one of them. Lova lived alone, and only had a few necessary things for her daily life. Lova’s parents were rural people and had farming and agriculture livelihoods. They lived 15 km from the place where Lova studied, but due to financial hardships, they could only come to visit her once a month. They brought her what was needed for her upkeep, such as padded rice, grains, some money and firewood that would suffice her for the month.