26 C
Sierra Leone
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Call to stop FGM, child marriage

HomeAYV NewsCall to stop FGM, child marriage

Call to stop FGM, child marriage

Date:

Related stories

EVP hosts successful 2nd Championship Debate Competition in Sierra Leone

In celebration of its 14th anniversary, the ECOWAS Volunteer...

APC Party speaks on arrest of Dj Boxx in Guinea

The All People's Congress (APC) Party has issued a...

President Bio offers support to new Senegal President

His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has extended...

Sierra Leone, Italy sign Air Service Agreement

Italy's Civil Aviation Authority, led by President Pierlugu Umberto...

She said the activity started on 1 November 2016 and it would end on Saturday 19 November with them having a nationwide child right vote, adding that on Sunday 20 they would be celebrating the International Day of the Rights of the Child as set aside by the United Nations.

“The day 12 of this activism we talked about harmful cultural practices and child marriage and that’s exactly what we are preaching to the people,” she said.

The campaign was done at strategic public meeting points in the city of Freetown including, Shell New Road, Eastern Police, PZ, Cotton Tree and more.

Asked about her response to critics who said that they had been given huge money by certain donors to embark on such a campaign, Anita said she did not care about negative things people would say about her, adding that they had not received a single cent from anyone in order to embark on such a move.

She said they had campaigned against female genital mutilation simply because of her experience with the ‘Bondo society’, adding that her mother was a senior cutter and that she went through very serious abuses from her step-mothers.

The program coordinator therefore called on all Sierra Leonean parents to refrain from initiating their girls into the ‘Bondo society’, and stressed that the reason for which Madam Yoko founded the Bondo society was to train women so that they could become useful wives to their husbands and the societies in which they lived

“Today, our children are getting all those trainings and more in schools and other institutions. So why still send them to the Bondo society?” She added

Speaking on the dangers of the Bondo society and child marriage, they said some girls had over the years lost their lives during the process and most of them who had gone through the rite had faced serious complications during child birth and some even found it very difficult to get pregnant as a result of complications during initiation.

On the issue of child marriage, the organization told AYV the practice had led to so many dropouts of young girls and that most of those many child marriages wouldn’t last long because the children entered into them out of their will, hence leading them to run out of their marital homes when situations turned unbearable for them.

Concluding, Anita Koroma told this medium that they decided to use FLASH MOB, entertaining people on the streets and other public places whilst passing their messages at the same time, to pass on their message because they were tired of being televisions and radios to talk to the people.

“We have decided to meet them now wherever they are to give them our messages,” She ended

Latest stories

Subscribe

- Never miss a story with notifications

- Gain full access to our premium content

- Browse free from up to 5 devices at once