Better be late than never, that was evident as the Cesvi, together with Mosaic organisations from Philippi held a Heritage celebration at Khanyisa Centre in the area on Friday 4 October.
Some of the other organisations that attended the event included Amadumisa Diverse Kingdom, Silikhya Disability Centre, Commission on Gender Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Cesvi is a non-governmental organisation dealing with social ills in and surrounding communities.
Cesvi Community Health Services coordinator Nomkhitha Magopeni said they felt it was an important event as they didn’t join previously because of other commitments. She said their theme for the day was ‘Inyanda’.
“As we are dealing with people with different problems in the organisation, part of them is gender-based violence (GBV). So, to promote unity in the families and our societies at large we demonstrated with a bundle of wood tied up together with a twine. We showed them the power of unity. If a family is united no one can divide them,” said Magopeni.
She described GBV as one of the main challenges they are facing in the area.
She stated that GBV affects both genders. However, she said men are reluctant to report it because of their egos.
“In most cases there are women who are affected the most or come to our offices. There are few men who are coming to us because of various reasons. Some of them think that they are going to be laughed at or assume that people will judge him that he is not man enough if they go to report it,” she explained.
Magopeni urged people to speak out about anything they feel wrong or uncomfortable.
