Churches Combine Effort to Fight Violence
The Methodist Church of Fiji and the Anglican Church collaborated in a gender-based violence workshop for the Tamavua Methodist Church Circuit.
The three-day workshop that catered for five churches ends today. It highlighted on the need and importance for women to come out of fear to help eradicate violence in communities.
Luseana Vuli of Wailoku said, “From this workshop, I finally understood the importance of the human rights of women and children and how it could help the situations women go through,”
“Many women go through physical abuse and they are afraid to come out and ask for help because they fear what their husbands would do to them or what people would think of her.
“These women need to know that they shouldn’t keep bottling up all the abuse and pain and that there are people they could talk to who will surely help them,” Ms Vuli said.
There were about 30 participants at the workshop. House of Sarah (Preventing Violence Against Women in Fiji’s Faith Settings) project officer, Ema Asioli, said workshops as such in communities had an impact to minimise issues against women.
“Through this project, we have community activists in Wailoku who are volunteers and they become our hands and legs in helping report cases of violence and to assist the victims,” she said.
“Our community action groups are our partnership with the Ministry of Health, Police, Medical Services Pacific and Social Welfare,”
Circuit Minister, Reverend Mosese Seruiratu, was grateful to the joint effort on shedding the light of violence against women.
“We look forward to more workshops like this that will help other churches and religion understand what one can do to help and not neglect or sweep the issues under the carpet,” he said.