NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
For families to live in peace and enjoy the sacredness of their creation, couples and other members of society must learn to eschew violence and take a stand against domestic and gender-based violence. This was the central theme of an advocacy campaign undertaken by Reverend Father Stanley Aroh, the Cathedral Administrator of St. Williams Cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Fr. Aroh who said he was inspired to pass on the ideas he learnt during a retreat at Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Abuja, explained that his interface with the worshipers is in line with the United Nations Women’s 16 Days of Activism, themed “Towards Beijing+30:United to end Violence Against Women and Girls”, said that the crisis in families can be checked if we respect individual rights, communicate effectively and disregard some inherited gender-discriminatory cultural practices.
Delivering his message through the eyes of carefully choreographed children after his homily, the clergyman identified sex preference, battery and verbal assault as some of the practices that couples need to jettison. “When a woman has had one, two and three girl-children, by the time she has the next, the question will be; wetin you born?’ you know what that means. No child is bad, so we must learn to give them the best of education and exposure. He implored victims of physical assault, battery, sexual violence or rape and other forms of violence to speak up and seek, promising to champion such issues in the Church, going forward.
The kids bore banners with themes such as “I will speak out against sexual violence,” “I will speak out against gender-based violence”, “I will speak out against domestic violence”, and “All gender-based violence amounts to abuse of power. Stop abusing power!” “You survived the abuse, you will survive the recovery,” among others, spoke to the congregation to avoid any form of violence that can precipitate crises at home.
The priest observed that violence is not only perpetrated against women and girls. He said men and boys are also victims. “But it is just that more women and girls are abused, they are more vulnerable, that is why we emphasize their situation,” he said. He informed the listeners that men and boys often lack the courage to speak out about what they suffer at the hands of their partners and the opposite sex. He promised to step down the talk to pious societies and tribal communities in the parish to ensure that the message trickles down to all worshippers in the Cathedral.
Pix: Fr. Aroh giving the advocacy talk