Speak out to avoid violence in homes, women told

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:24:52 +0000

BY MARY KACHEPA

WOMEN should speak out when there are turbulent situations in a home to avoid being drawn into criminal acts as an excuse to defend themselves, says Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) president Lucy Lungu

Ms Lungu said that when couples had challenges in their home it was important to seek help and not act like everything was normal, saying they should seek counsel to avoid things getting out of hand.

Commenting on the recent case of a woman who poured boiling cooking oil on her husband, Ms Lungu said that ‘‘no one can just wake up one morning and resort to pouring oil on the other person’’.

“For a woman to reach that end of pouring hot cooking oil on the husband, the couple is likely to have been going through turbulence for some time; therefore couples, especially women, should not remain silent when there are indicators of violence in a home,” she said.

She urged couples to seek help from any organization of their choices and this could be family, church or NGOs such as the YWCA with experienced counselling personnel.

“We don’t condone any form of violence committed by either a woman or man. The Anti-Gender Based Violence Act allows for any person who witnesses the violent act to report.

“We urge the police to follow up and make sure the perpetrators are brought to book. It is not about forgiving, otherwise we shall not get anywhere with the fight against GBV,” she said.

Ms. Lungu explained that a message should be sent to all perpetrators of violence that a criminal docket will be opened by the police whether the victim or survivor reported or not.

“We sure still have a lot of work to do; everybody and every institution is needed to address gender based violence positively,” she said.