The Kaelo – Stories of Hope segment on the Stop Gender Violence Helpline will be aired on SABC 2 on Monday 26th November at 18h00 and repeated on the same station on Wednesday 28th November at 11h00. This will feature interviews with LifeLine's Executive Director Christa Chidrawi, Gender Wellness Programme Coordinator Busi Dhlamini and two of the Line counsellors, Jabu and Shoki.
The Department of Correctional Services has produced pledge cards to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism. On the back of the cards are given six helplines for the public to contact. Out of these six, three of them are LifeLine numbers! They have (listed first) the National Counselling Line, as well as the National AIDS Helpline and the Stop Gender Violence Helpline.Make the Stop Gender Violence and AIDS Helplines a Free Call from Cellphones!
Please go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/make-the-stop-gender-violence-and-aids and add your signature to this very important petition. We need 10,000 signatures and time is running out.
Women'sNet, Gender Links and Nisaa join LifeLine Southern Africa to call on Cell-C, Vodacom, Virgin Mobile and MTN to make essential national helplines a free call from a cellphone.
LifeLine Southern Africa (a registered non profit organisation), who run these services, receive up to 700 calls a day on the Stop-Gender-Violence Helpline, and up to 3000 on the AIDS Helpline. During the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women* campaign, traffic to these helplines doubles. Women from all over the country seek help, support and referrals to other services.
LifeLine Southern Africa manages both these helplines. Calling these numbers from a Telkom landline is free, but not from a cellphone.
2 out of 3 South Africans have cell phones; at least 45% of cell phones users are female; 1 in every 3 South African women is abused, and more than half of all South Africans live under the poverty line
This means that it is too expensive for millions of people who have a cellphone but can not access a Telkom phone to call these valuable helplines. Millions of women cannot access counselling assistance because of cellphone costs.
We call on our mobile service providers to allow cellphone users to call the Stop Gender Violence Helpline and the AIDS Helpline at no cost (zero-rated call).
This will mean that:
* The 30 million cellphone users in South Africa, many of whom do not have access to a landline, will be able to freely access information, emotional support, referrals and counselling.
* Women in emergencies who are not close to a landline, can call for trauma counselling.
* Women whose abusive partners monitor their Telkom phone use, can leave the house and call for advice on getting a Protection Order using their cellphones.
* Rural women and women in informal settlements who have cellphones can be referred to an anti-retroviral service if they been raped, within the 72-hour window period.
Let us make sure that help is really only a cell/phone call away.
Please endorse this call (add your details) and email this link to 10 of your friends or colleagues. You can also print this petition out and pass it along in your workplace or among your friends (fax the completed table to: 0866378235)
Emails with your signatures should be sent to sallys@womensnet.org.za.
For more information, email: sallys@womensnet.org.za
*The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children is an annual, global campaign to raise awareness of violence against women. For more information about the campaign please visit: http://womensnet.org.za
Gender Wellness Pilot Project
The pilot project, funded by the Foundation for Human Rights, was implemented in conjunction with the LifeLine Centre in Nelspruit and the Tshedimosetso Community Development centre in Warrenton, in the Mpumalanga and Northern Cape provinces. The purpose of the pilot is to build a foundation that would lead to a comprehensive and effective Gender WellnessProgramme.
The project started with the identification of the community needs, especially those of women and girl children and thereafter the implementation of intervention processes, namely awareness, education and training and support. The pilot targeted the rural areas and villages: Ba GaMothibi,
Luphisi, Dantjie and Mpakeni areas.
16 Days of Activism On No Violence Against Women & Children
The Campaign was funded by the Telkom Foundation. The Project Co-ordinator once again worked together with the LifeLine and Childline offices in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga provinces.
In the Northern Cape, where there is neither a LifeLine or Childline office, a popular community development office, called the Tshedimosetso Community Development Centre located in Warrenton, was approached to collaborate and assist in implementing the activities.
The three Stop Gender Violence Helpline Counsellors (Ms. Shoki Maedi, Mr. Jabulani Meyatho and Mr. Livhadi Thilivali) participated in
the implementation of these activities.
They, together with LifeLine Centre community projects people, raised awareness on gender-based violence, its association with HIV and AIDS, the services provided by the Stop Gender Violence Helpline and LifeLine Southern Africa and its centres and their experiences on the Helpline. Awareness raising material was, again, distributed amongst the Childline and LifeLine centres that required them for their 16 Days activities.