Wellness of young women a priority in Kagiso
Parents are encouraged to be more involved in their daughters' lives during an awareness programme in celebration of Women's Day.
The Girl Grow Group organisation along with various other stakeholders including the Gauteng Department of Social Development and West Rand Department of Health hosted an awareness programme in celebration of Women’s Day.
Many topics were discussed at the programme which was held at the Kagisonong Community Hall in Kagiso and saw over 50 young women and girls being educated about the importance of their physical and mental well-being. While it was mainly girls who were being addressed during the programme many parents were also spoken to on how they can play a role in assisting their children.
During the programme founder of the Girl Growth Group, Nthabiseng Nalane gave a very compelling speech educating young women about mental health. In her speech, she addressed how parents needed to be held accountable for how they treat their daughters and how frightening it can be to hear how more often than not the abuse and trauma girls face is mostly at the hands of the adults in their lives.
“For the years that we have been working in Kagiso, we have seen an increase in many girls who come to our centre because they need guidance. While we speak to the children and give them advice on being responsible, we must appeal to parents because they also have a role and responsibility to play,” Nalane said.
According to SaferSpace.org, it is estimated that between 12% to 28% of young girls in South Africa aged 10 to 12 have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.
These reasons for such alarming numbers among younger demographics of women and why they find themselves in such circumstances is mainly due to social norms which may be cultural or religious, and the lack of women empowerment. Other reasons include the lack of social support, income inequality, and substance abuse.
According to Nalane, many girls who seek the services of Girl Grow Group have developed these bad habits because their parents or peers have influenced them to do so, such as substance abuse, prostitution and homelessness.
“It wouldn’t be fair to just speak to the children about their challenges if we don’t address the reasons why they end up in our centre seeking help. More often than not these children come to us because they are running away from their parents who are abusing them or can not stand living in a broken home any longer. It simply means as adults we are failing our children by not giving them proper guidance or passing our own bad habits on to them. We are failing our children as adults,” Nalane concluded.
