PURPOSEFUL PLAY
During weekends, women usually doll up and head to football playgrounds to watch men play the game. These are usually social games and the ladies go there for entertainment.
Once there, their job is to cheer the men on, booze hard while some go there for hook ups. Being there can also be an escape from reality as some of them carry deep scars of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and being around people and boozing seems to temporarily relieve the pain.
This is why founder of Elite Girls tournament, Jessica Lokwalo and team saw it fit to empower ladies. Instead of going to the grounds for hook ups and to over indulge in alcohol which only leads to more problems, they are reducing idleness and making women participate actively in eradicating GBV in the country by playing the game as well.
When women go the grounds and start to carelessly drink, this is how the door for GBV easily opens. “We are empowering women so that they play the game too and it is at these games women get to learn all about GBV and ways of eradicating it. We will be having a tournament on the 20th of April at the University of Botswana stadium,” Lokwalo said this week.
When they started the tournament in 2022, they wanted to move women from being ‘objects’ that are renowned for patronising the grounds to sit pretty doing nothing. When playing, there is information shared about all things GBV, from signs to breaking the silence and picking up the pieces.
“What we do is really helping a lot of women, at one point, we had a woman who was without shelter. She was a new mother and not seeing eye to eye with her baby daddy. She was also not in good terms with her mother, hence she had no one to help her with the baby.
“She reached out and we managed to get her help, she was moved to a shelter. She was assisted, so yes, there are instances when we get to touch some individuals' lives and they open up about their problems and this what we want,” she said.
There have also been instances where couples come to them asking to be assisted with counselling, an indication that their messages are making a positive impact out there.
Funds permitting, they intend to host the tournament in different locations around the country because GBV is a national crisis.
National Men Sector Coordinator at National AIDS & Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), Nonofo Leteane said they have partnered with Lokwalo and team because prevalence of GBV in the country is high.
Almost on a daily basis, there are reports about girls being defiled. Certainly, Botswana needs to intensify measures of protecting the girl-child. However, what women need to know is that they hold the key to everything.
“What most women do not know is that they hold the keys to everything, a simple no is what can shut doors to some forms of GBV. Because if we still have women who get enticed by a plate of food and beer, we will continue having increasing cases of GBV - women need to have discipline,” he said.
The situation, he said, was even sad in rural areas where parents give men permission to sleep with their children as long as they bring them a few grocery bags.
Once there, their job is to cheer the men on, booze hard while some go there for hook ups. Being there can also be an escape from reality as some of them carry deep scars of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and being around people and boozing seems to temporarily relieve the pain.
This is why founder of Elite Girls tournament, Jessica Lokwalo and team saw it fit to empower ladies. Instead of going to the grounds for hook ups and to over indulge in alcohol which only leads to more problems, they are reducing idleness and making women participate actively in eradicating GBV in the country by playing the game as well.
When women go the grounds and start to carelessly drink, this is how the door for GBV easily opens. “We are empowering women so that they play the game too and it is at these games women get to learn all about GBV and ways of eradicating it. We will be having a tournament on the 20th of April at the University of Botswana stadium,” Lokwalo said this week.
When they started the tournament in 2022, they wanted to move women from being ‘objects’ that are renowned for patronising the grounds to sit pretty doing nothing. When playing, there is information shared about all things GBV, from signs to breaking the silence and picking up the pieces.
“What we do is really helping a lot of women, at one point, we had a woman who was without shelter. She was a new mother and not seeing eye to eye with her baby daddy. She was also not in good terms with her mother, hence she had no one to help her with the baby.
“She reached out and we managed to get her help, she was moved to a shelter. She was assisted, so yes, there are instances when we get to touch some individuals' lives and they open up about their problems and this what we want,” she said.
There have also been instances where couples come to them asking to be assisted with counselling, an indication that their messages are making a positive impact out there.
Funds permitting, they intend to host the tournament in different locations around the country because GBV is a national crisis.
National Men Sector Coordinator at National AIDS & Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), Nonofo Leteane said they have partnered with Lokwalo and team because prevalence of GBV in the country is high.
Almost on a daily basis, there are reports about girls being defiled. Certainly, Botswana needs to intensify measures of protecting the girl-child. However, what women need to know is that they hold the key to everything.
“What most women do not know is that they hold the keys to everything, a simple no is what can shut doors to some forms of GBV. Because if we still have women who get enticed by a plate of food and beer, we will continue having increasing cases of GBV - women need to have discipline,” he said.
The situation, he said, was even sad in rural areas where parents give men permission to sleep with their children as long as they bring them a few grocery bags.
