Posts archive for September, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE

Women and girls are counting on us!

Enforce the right to accessible, safe and legal abortion now

Windhoek, Namibia, 28 September 2017 – On International Safe Abortion Day, marked on 28 September, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), the Alliance of Women Advocating for Change (AWAC), SAfAIDS and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) call on African governments to ensure universal access to safe abortion by decriminalising abortion and amending or repealing laws that prevent women and girls from accessing abortions or post abortion care.  

Gender-based violence (GBV) has emotional consequences for both its survivors and for the perpetrators. When Granny Matebalo Thabana’s son disappeared without a word, leaving his family of five behind she, her daughter-in-law and the children were left devastated. Granny Matebalo and her daughter-in-law were numbed, while the children felt abandoned and unworthy of love and affection.

Extreme Violence Is A Result Of Toxic Masculinity

By Alvine Kapitako

Windhoek

Society conditions men to bottle up their emotions instead of expressing themselves in a healthy way, explained Delene van Dyk – a psychosexual educator from South Africa – during a three-day workshop aimed at preventing the stigma and discrimination experienced by key populations under the Key Populations Representation, Evidence and Advocacy for Change in Health (KP REACH) regional programme, in which SAfAIDS is the technical lead.

From YPISA Champion To Child MP – Martha Chivanga

Martha Chivanga, from Ngundu High School in Chivi District, started out as a Young People’s Information Service Advocacy (YPISA) champion and eventually emerged as child MP for Chivi District. The knowledge and skills she gained on sexual and reproductive health issues from the YPISA training have given her the confidence to eagerly grab opportunities as they arise. Now, as a child MP she is able to represent her peers at both national level  and in her school.

 

1 September 2017 – Malawian journalist Alick Ponje received the inaugural Southern Africa Media Award in Social Accountability Reporting during the Telkom-Highway Africa Awards Gala Dinner held yesterday evening at the 21^st annual Highway Africa conference, the world’s largest gathering of African journalists, at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.

The old adage ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’, aptly sums up Nyarai Kaliati’s life. A mother of three, Nyarai used to rely on her husband for her family’s upkeep. Patriarchy taught her to submit to her husband and she  expected him to provide everything for the family. But Nyarai had never really accepted that situation and often argued with her husband, as she wanted him to account for every cent he earned. This did not go down well with him.

Concerned mothers from Harare’s Mabvuku suburb approached SAfAIDS staff during the Harare Agricultural Show seeking advice on curbing risky sexual behaviours among adolescents in their community. They reported that nude parties have become a regular occurrence in the area and they fear for their children’s health and welfare.

The recently held Harare Agricultural show witnessed SAfAIDS showcasing some of its men’s programmes as a way of reaching more men with its interventions. Through one of the SAfAIDS programmes Men as partners/Women as partners (WasP/MasP) programme which addresses harmful cultural practices that perpetuate the abuse of women and girls, men were engaged on the role they should play in ending any form of violence against women and girls