Women empowerment continues to be at the forefront of Christian faith-based organisation, Jump Youth Mission (JYM) who recently hosted an event aimed at just that.
The organisation’s mission is to provide youth, adults, and families with an effective and comprehensive solution to life-controlling addictions in order to become productive members of society. They celebrated Women’s Day in honour of the ladies of Buffelsdraai and the surrounding communities. JYM’s founders and management team, Kevin and Valerie Pillay, said after the recent acts of chaos from the unrest and subsequent racial tension in KwaZulu-Natal, the community of Buffelsdraai and Trenance Park came together to celebrate South Africa’s diversity on Women’s Day. “In keeping with this years International Women’s Day theme ‘choose to challenge’ guest speakers touched on domestic violence and they were empowered on how to regroup and rebuild society after the recent unrest. They were blessed by the Word of God. To end the celebration they danced, received special gifts and delicious meals. We at JYM are so grateful to Ministers Gary and Rhoda Jacob for their support, their sponsors Hands for Hearts for the chocolates and sanitary towel towards the gift hampers, ICare, Nivashni Bramdeo and Sister Naomi,” said Valerie.
Rhoda, who serves at Verulam SAPS and the Verulam Crisis Centre, held a motivational talk for the women where she explained what gender-based violence is and if someone is a victim how they can apply for a protection order. “Women should understand that this can happen to anyone and that abuse should not be tolerated. I’ve counselled many women and explained the cycle stages of love and abuse. Women don’t have to be caught in this cycle or be a victim. Sadly many women don’t report abuse because they feel they are financially dependent on their abuser.” Pastor Kevin Chetty, from Generation of Radicals, who also helped with sponsorships said the initiative taken proved to be a great success. “It was a job well done to empower these women and make them feel special during the month of women. I must say the motivational talks was also a good gesture as I believe much more needs to be done to shed light on GBV. The main thing now is that these women implement what they’ve learned and help others understand that they don’t have to suffer in silence.”
