On Friday, August 9th, Bomme Isago Association(BIA) gathered together a group of HIV positive women to share their experiences of violence. The workshop was coordinated by BIA but initiated and implemented by BONELA and the Her Rights Initiative.
The gathering was an opportunity for women living with HIV to explore their place in society, understand their power in the community, and discuss the specific types of violence they face as positive women.
Group work included recounting their own experiences of violence and trying to pinpoint the ways violence is directed as women living with HIV. Ms. Ann Strode, from the Her Rights Initiative pointed out that most policies addressing violence against women were written to protect negative women from becoming positive. These policies often ignore the the physical, verbal, and economic abuse perpetrated against women living with the disease.
The objective of the Her Rights Initiative is to define "violence against women living with HIV". The violence may differ or mirror the violence against women more generally, but the only way to know that is to record and compare the experiences of both categories of women. The project is taking Ms. Strode all around the SADC region as similar workshops will be held with women in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho. After the country workshops are completed there will be a regional conference where two representatives from each country will share their stories and exchange ideas on how to fight violence in their communities.
In the group of 20 women present at the Lobatse conversation, over half of them had experienced some form of violence. The participants told stories of being removed from their homes after they revealed their status to their mothers, and husbands and partners beating and raping them repeatedly as punishment for being HIV positive. The participants ranged from mid-twenties to late sixties and came from Lobatse, Kanye, and Molapowbojang. It was disheartening to see how many women were affected by violence and that the harshest perpetrators of the violence ranged from mothers, to cousins, to health care providers.
The last session of the workshop was an opportunity to develop an action plan. Action items included, kgotla meetings, speaking to church ministers, holding marches, and speaking to family and friends. The participants urged the workshop organizers to include men in the next conversation so as to explore the reasons they perpetrate and perpetuate this violence. In tern, the facilitator challenged the women to discuss these issues with the men in their lives; brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, sons. She reminded them that while it may be difficult and sometimes dangerous to challenge their partners abuse, the message of ending GBV may be better received if delivered by a non-intimate partner. Therefore, sensitizing men, boys, and other women in the community should be the mandate of everyone who placed an item on the action plan. Change will come from empowered women willing to speak out against these injustices and the women in that conversation vowed to do so.
If you are currently in a violent relationship and are seeking help please contact Bomme Isago Association or the Lobatse or Woodhall police. There is help out there for you.
Batswana we need to act on GBV. We cannot allow this to be business as usual. What kind of a nation are we leaving in? This is everybody's problem. Nobody is save, we call upon Private businesses, public, law makers and implementors together we can make it. We need voices and action. Let us speak out.
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