Families SA Knysna visits Women's Parliament

KNYSNA NEWS - Families SA Knysna was invited to nominate a delegate to attend the Women's Parliament last month.

According to Eva Solomons, in her capacity as the social worker rendering a therapeutic service to adult victims of crime and violence, their families and friends, she became the nominated staff member from Famsa Knysna.

Solomons has rendered services to adult victims of crime and violence since her appointment as Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) social worker in November 2018 – a department of social development-funded post. The VEP team has walked the road with more than 100 victims of crime and violence from November 2018 up to present – many being women.

In addition to counselling, Pumla Ngqezu, the VEP social auxiliary worker, has presented many four-hour workshops on gender-based violence (GBV) in the communities, said Solomons. More than 200 community members have attended these workshops and are greatly aware of the realities of these challenges.

"It was a great experience and privilege to speak on behalf of the victims/survivors of GBV that we render a service to," said Solomons. "From the discussions of the various delegates it became clear that the different districts experience similar challenges with regard to GBV. The reception at Parliament was warm and created a feeling of being safe.

The stories shared were both inspiring and heart wrenching. The full extent of the dilemma that women in society – and the people helping them – are faced with, became apparent. Many of the representatives from women's organisations that were there, are themselves, survivors of rape, gender-based violence or have had a close family member who is a survivor.

Upon conclusion of the Women's Parliament, the delegates agreed on resolutions that will be tabled to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and referred to specific committees.

The resolutions included proposing to the presidency to amend the Campaign for 16 days of Activism for no violence against women and children to 365 days and separate the campaign for children, and that a working committee should be established to monitor the implementation of resolutions and convene in the first quarter of 2020 to evaluate progress.

The working committee, with one delegate per district, comprises: