GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE SURVIVORS ARE GIVEN HOPE.
Women and victims of gender-based violence have been given the means to reclaim their personal and financial independence and become entrepreneurs.
For a long time, domestic violence has been a widespread problem around the world, and it is almost exclusively motivated by gender. Throughout history, women have been the primary victims of this violence, and Uganda is no different. The husbands of impoverished women often mistreat their wives, and young adolescent girls are married off in an illegal attempt to gain wealth for the family.
A case in point is a 45-year-old female resident of Pallisa district in Eastern Uganda who purchased matrimonial land together with her husband. He however turned hostile when he wanted to bring a new woman to the homestead and thus started heavily mistreating her to get her to abandon the land. She now lives in a dilapidated house with her five grandchildren because her husband chased her away from the matrimonial home after she sought court intervention and it was ruled that they share the piece of land. She now says that her new living conditions are an improvement and she drew this newfound hope from a certain well; the Golden Rainbow.
Dakasi Herbert Stackhouse is a Ugandan lawyer who founded Golden Rainbow, a Community Based Organization (CBO), which was registered to give hope to widows, and women affected by gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV by having a positive mindset and also providing them with psychological and material support. Dakasi explained that, “Cases of gender-based violence against women and girls are very rampant in Pallisa sub-region yet awareness levels seem to be undermined by the society’s adoration of polygamy. Against such a background, it was necessary to make a strategic intervention.”
Although it was initially difficult to form a community for women here, the hub has since grown to register over 500 members, including men. Speaking to the New Vision, Halima Nyomera, a project manager at Golden Rainbow said that, “We are supporting the women with the prevention of stigma and discrimination, as well as referrals for access to family planning methods and other services.” Dakasi went on to explain that, “We realized that many women were being battered in their homes because they did not have money so we decided to train them in entrepreneurship skills and offer them grants to start up their businesses so that they can pay fees for their children.”
The women in the community have since gone on to become involved in farming, catering, fish farming and handcrafts. One of the beneficiaries, has built up a catering business which now operates outside of Pallisa. “We are a team of 10 women who decided to do food because everyone eats food every day and when we started, the business was slow but now apart from big hotels, we are the second leading outside-catering group in Pallisa and in Iganga,” she said.
Dakasi also started the Herbert Dakasi Foundation, a non-profit organization that among other things, runs small-scale schools for underprivileged children and youth of daily wage workers in addition to operating organizations where they employ youngsters.
To learn more about the organization and their initiatives, visit the link here: