Monrovia – It was both an enthralling and emotional night at Smart-Liberia headquarters in Monrovia as scores of women rights activists and gender advocates gathered to climax the 16 Days of Activism.
The awareness-raising campaign recognizes the many ways in which all women experience gender-based violence, including the experiences of rape, torture, murdered, and the broad spectrum of women, mostly from vulnerable populations.
The annual international campaign kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.
In Liberia, the campaign consisted of a series of nationwide events that honored women and girls whose lives have been affected by or lost because of gender-based violence.
In keeping with the #WeAreUnprotected campaign action, the climax of the 16 Days of Activism, witnessed a candlelight vigil—a display which bathed a hall in dark and orange—the flame of the burning candle, and a Poetry slam or reading of great pieces of poems that highlighted resilience, victimization and courage, as well as calls for women empowerment.
The event was held under the auspices of the #WeAreUnprotectedCampaign and the Liberia Poet Society.
Some described the event as a night of solidarity as the women dripped in both their usual black, as well as orange attires—as the latter represented this year’s campaign theme: “Orange the world: End violence against women now!”
This gathering was meant for healing, show of solidarity, and support to women and girls, especially those who have survived the menace of sexual abuse, the Founder and Executive Director of Kids’ Educational Engagement Project (KEEP), Brenda Brewer Moore, said.
“There are different means through we get healed when we are hurt. Some can heal through writing. It is therapeutic. Some can express theirs through hurts through talking or crying. When you are hurt talk or cry. These are great ways to get rid of our pains most times,” she said, “Writing is another way of expressing the pains and agony that people going through.
“It is a shame that women and girls were still being abused even during the course of the campaign.
Brenda Brewer Moore of KEEP
An emotional night of great poems highlighted the level of abuses that women endure daily. The gathering was treated to 16 spoken words (poems) as a way of climaxing the 16 Days of Activism.
“How long will we cry before rape is treated with the necessary attention?” a line of one of the poems asked, while another inquired, “How long will we wane in agony before it is truly seen as a national emergency?”
Read in three phases, some of the poems highlighted the injustices that victims of sexual abuse and other forms of violence are grappling with.
A poem by Poet Blessed R. Cudjoe looked at the lack of access to justice in the face of perpetrators walking with impunity or going unpunished. Titled “Stop It”, questioned the whereabouts of justice in the face of brutality against women, torture and rape. The hall reverberated with “Justice where are you,” at the end of every line that Cudjoe read.
Some of the poems also slammed society for stereotyping women and calling them demeaning names while ignoring the level of stress that society imposes on those women and girls.
Poet Angel Clay reciting one of her poems
Poems by Poets Angel Clay and Majorie Kollie highlighted exploitation and the need to bring perpetrators to justice as a way of ending impunity; violence and exploitation that affect women and girls and shrink their space.
The Poets demanded empowerment for women so that they can broaden their space and become productive.
A guest poet of the night was Atty. Mmonbeydo Nadine Joah, Executive Director/Legal Counsel of Organization for Women and Children ORWOCH, who read a personal experience of sexual exploitation, said she endured at the hand of a close and familiar person during her childhood.