Janine is herself a survivor and contacted Action Breaks Silence so her students could participate in the Primary School Programme to address VAWG.
“Overall, it's an amazing program and the children learnt so much, especially the boys; they didn't know about gender-based violence. For the girls, the program has bought out their confidence, especially those who never speak in class. We noticed that they have become more vocal and interactive so the program is really brilliant in terms of that. The kids that have experienced trauma now asked more questions - I think they needed clarification to what is happing in their lives at the moment. There are 4 of them that are going through exactly what the program is talking about and that opened their eyes and they are vocal at home now, as it's come back via the parents about the program, and has helped one of the parents out of a sticky situation!
These girls will definitely be warriors when they are older, no one will mess with them! And thank you for doing the Empowerment through Self-Defence, they have been teaching the other girls and encouraging them not to feel afraid. The girls are less passive but not aggressive and know their rights, they know when they need to switch and they know what they need to do to defend themselves. The knock-on effect has been with the whole school, especially with their peers. The children have been talking with the older Year Six students about how they behave and how they speak to each other and the language they should be using and they have also shared a few of the activities you've done around self-love & competence, telling them, “You can” and “You need to love yourself.”