“Mothers are the glue to the family. A mother must have a voice, mother must fight for every one in her family. That is why it’s so important that women come together to support each other in all of their struggles.”
These were the words of Lizle Smith, the main speaker at a Women’s Month high tea organised by Shirley’ Giving Hands, an NPO that tackles social ills in Kraaifontein.
The event was held at Kraaifontein library on Friday August 30.
Ms Smith told the women she grew up with an emotionally abusive father – and ended up marrying her high school sweetheart who had also grown up in an abusive home.
“I came out of a house where my father was very abusive, but abusive emotionally, and he drank a lot.”
She said her father emotionally bullied her mother and her siblings, and described to the women how putting all her heartache and energy into her school work had been her strategy for getting away from that environment.
“I was chosen as a head girl, not because I was good but I just worked hard, harder than the rest of the other kids. It was not my aim to become a head girl; I just put all my trauma into school. I had to find something else or I would have been a disaster. So I had two choices, either I put my focus on school or the streets. So I decided to focus on school,” Ms Smith said.
She urged the women to look out for the warning signs, emphasising that it is a “red flag” if they do not feel heard or are not spoken to with love and respect.
“You can’t support your family if you unhappy,” she said.
Lecille Poole, the founder of Shirley’s Giving Hands, said the event had been held to celebrate the end of Women’s Month.
“Today is a special day for the ladies that work in the community with me. We are doing the GBV awareness to help to teach ladies and show them where they can go to get support, and also help us in the communities,” said Ms Poole.
She added that people should know where to go to report GBV incidents, and if they don’t want to go to police stations, her NGO is there to assist those who seek help.
