Times Of Swaziland: VIOLENCE IS LEARNED,  IT CAN BE UNLEARNED

VIOLENCE IS LEARNED,  IT CAN BE UNLEARNED
================================================================================
The Editor on 30/11/2017 08:23:00


Have you ever thought about that wonderful and beautiful sound that comes out
when male voices sing together?
Well I have been thinking how wonderful it would be if men could join the  fight
against gender-based violence in the country and sing in one voice with women
and girls and shout enough to stop the killings, rape and other forms of inhuman
treatment on our mothers, sisters and daughters. Gender-based violence has taken
another level in the country and it appears we are too silent as men and the
silence is too loud to be ignored. No matter how successful women and girls’
programmes can be, they can address part of the problem. Most boys think it is
okay for a man to beat a woman when he has been provoked. Violence is learned
and therefore it can be unlearned.
The time to stand up as Swazi men is now; sing in harmony with those who are
already fighting the scourge. Let us not make it a women’s issue but we should
make it our problem as we have lost mothers, sisters, friends, daughters and
colleagues. This has been giving me sleepless nights because we know that every
human’s days are in God’s hands, but today there are people who decide to
cut short the lives and potential of many women and girls thus bringing into
disrepute the good name of many men who don’t believe and do not use violence
against women. We cannot sit and watch while the safety of our own is being
compromised in our name as men.