Anelisa Nelani is excited to receive certificate of attendance from Dr Jim Lees and Mthobeleleni Majacu who were the facilitators of the programme
In a speech two years ago, president Cyril Ramaphosa described gender-based violence as a second pandemic facing the country.
This is one of the reasons that prompted Snapshot Community Cinema and MTVShuga to roll out intensive dialogues about gender-based violence across Khayelitsha.
Under the theme "Ukulungisa Ubuntu - Mending Humanity", the dialogues are funded by the US Mission in an effort to tackle the many underlying issues that contribute to gender-based violence in the township of Khayelitsha. The workshops started in March and will run until August.
Representative of Snapshot Community Cinema, Siphokazi Gcasamba, said the workshop was aimed at sharing true testimonies of people who had been abused, with a focus on four key topics - gender-based violence, what men can be, sexual harassment and healing.
Through the workshop, she said, they wanted to create a platform for young people to have a conversation around these issues with the hope that they could provide a way forward on how to deal with them and make a difference.
She said young people, especially men needed to add their voices and take a stand against gender based violence.
But most importantly, she said, they wanted to empower women with the necessary skills and knowledge to protect themselves against abusers and potential abusers.
“We want young people to lead from the front in the fight against gender-based violence and other social ills.
‘’We are hoping that we could have a society whereby women and children could live freely and not fall victims of gender-based violence.”
Participant, Samkelo Zihlangu, said it was essential that young people involve themselves in such programmes as Khayelitsha was facing another pandemic which is the senseless killing of gay and lesbian people - and most times the perpetrators of such heinous acts were men.