Women unite during Heritage Month
Hundreds of young women from around King William’s Town gathered to close off Heritage Month with sport, song and dance activities at Bath Fare Stadium in Zwelitsha on Saturday.
The celebrations were hosted by theBumb’ingomso Leadership Network with the theme for the day being #BeMoreCultural.
Communications and marketing coordinator for the Small Projects Foundation Spokazi Tyiwani said the dialogues were aimed at addressing cultural practices that encouraged bad behaviour and the event was a platform for young women to discuss old cultural practices they may have felt had no place in the future.
“Through this event, we are trying to create a movement of young people who know who they are and where they are going,” Tyiwani said.
“One of the dialogues was about consent and condom use.
“We found that myths and societal norms inhibited young women from negotiating safe sex with their partners so we are trying to empower them to make the right choices when it comes to their bodies and negotiating safe sex,” Tyiwani said.
Those in attendance were urged to make use of the Bumbingomso Call Centre which connects Buffalo City Metro youth to professional advice on health, life, careers and access to support services.
Information packs and magazines were handed out and the young ladies in attendance learned about different aspects of the programme.