Be Accentuated Foundation invests on both girls and boys to tackle GBV
Boys and girls unite.
With the issue of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) the country is faced with, it is easy to overlook the experience of a boy child. Oftentimes society neglects young men. As a result, a neglected boy child may grow up to be a bigger danger to society.
Be Accentuated Foundation believes that both must be equally invested in. Working with young girls and boys, the organisation aims to teach the next generation how to co-exist.
Be Accentuated founder, Johanna Ramatsobane-Dlamini, said that the focus on the girl child is due to women being previously disadvantaged, however, neglecting the boy child will just create a cycle where girls and boys will feel like they are enemies, hence the establishment of the organisation.
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“We wanted to create an environment where a boy child can feel loved and special, at the same time teaching young girls to treat these young boys as their brothers and boys to learn how to respect girls. I am also proud to say that I have noticed an improvement in their individual behaviors which means I am getting closer to achieving my goal,” Dlamini said.
More than anything, the organisation aims to empower young people of all genders and promotes #TheFutureIsMale&Female. Although the pandemic has interfered with their meetings, which usually took place once in every six weeks, the organisation still manages to interact with its members through virtual meetings.
One of the members, Alice Shilubane said that she is proud to be a member of such a great initiative and has recruited some of her peers.
“This organisation has been a total blessing to me as a teenager, I have grown so much. I have a different and positive perspective on life. It gives us so much hope and empowers us as young girls and boys.” Shilubane said.
Another member, Mashungulu Sono applauds the organisation for changing his perspective of how girls should be treated.
“What society teaches us is that boys are more powerful than girls, but joining the organisation has changed my mindset. I now treat girls as equal human beings, every girl I meet in the street is my sister and thus, I must treat her with respect,” Sono said.
The global pandemic has affected us all, but we need to remember that young children and teenagers are also affected, while we complain about finances, food, and job loses, etc. We should also bear in mind that children are also going through a rough patch and need some sort of intervention. On Saturday, August 1, the organisation hosted an event for its members in Diepkloof Zone 1. The theme for the day was Mental Health.
“We seem to have forgotten about the children’s mental health during this pandemic. For instance, the schools re-opening and closing confusion. These children are confused and no one is actually there to give them hope. Also, you’ll hear people say that children should go back to school because they’re not staying home but playing at local parks, but do we know their situations at home?
“Some of these kids left home because being at the park is better than being at a stressful home with no food and maybe no peace of mind. So as an orgnisation we wanted to give them hope, to say to them things will eventually get better,” said Dlamini.
Kgomotso Lekganyane an employee at Spar, who has been assisting at the orgainsation, made it possible for the children to receive packs of goodies.
“What Spar at Southern Distribution center does, is that every year, they run a community hero challenge. The focus this year was on becoming involved in our communities especially with the global pandemic hitting hard financially with people not having enough money to make ends meet.
“So I entered the competition with the aim to donate essentials to the children and fortunately, it was announced that I was the deserving candidate and because parents are overwhelmed with buying groceries, we decided to meet them halfway by donating dignity packs to the children,” said Lekganyane.
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