RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL LEADERS SHARE EXPERIENCES FROM THE DISCUSSIONS ON PARENTING IN THEIR DIFFERENT CHURCHES AND COMMUNITIES

 

cultual and religious leaders during training.

A three days work shop was carried out at travelers nest in Kibiito town council Bunyangabu District  where the Religious and  cultural leaders within Kibiito town council were invited by RICNET to share their experiences on parenting from the last training that they attended.

The Imam shared that in every Friday sermons and on radio he made sure he talked about taking care of children, showing them love, prevention of drug abuse and alcoholism among children and parents being free with them so that children are free to share their problems with them.  “Some parents are HIV positive and find it hard telling their children who are infected at birth and take their children to schools to remove the children from themselves.”  He added. Mrs Annet Nyakoijo the parish chief who also acts as the leader for women in Kibiito B cell talked to the women to take care of their children. There was a case where the boy children were beating their mother to give them land , she intervened by talking to these boys and they started attending the parenting sessions since they are parents too and they have stopped beating their mother. The men have also changed in their families because of attending parenting sessions and they no longer beating their women. 

It was discussed that Men are also facing violence but have nowhere to report to, they are also given drugs by women hence becoming weak and hence the women become more powerful and authorative in the home. A case in point is where a specific policeman in Kibiito always supports women in case a case is brought up, the men end up being jailed and this police man later takes on these women as his girlfriends. Discussions about who a child is and the responsibilities for mothers and fathers were discussed and experiences were shared where a pastor shared of how his son married a wife, gave birth to only boys and this has been a cause of conflict because they cannot take care of their children and his two grand children have been brought to the grandfather to help them in parenting. It was discussed that parents should ensure that 75% of the time children should spend it at home so that they adopt good behaviors and learn their responsibilities as children unlike when they spend most of their time in town and adopt 50% instead of 25%.

Some of the challenges faced by these leaders while passing on this knowledge in the communities included different people turning up for the services, most people in the villages do not listen to radio, less time is given to the religious leaders during burials and most people turning up in community meetings are old hence the young parents are missing the knowledge

 In conclusion, it was agreed that during the preparatory marriage lessons at church, more emphasis should be on child upbringing as most of the time children are left out in these sessions. Lack of care and provision of needs by fathers in the homes has led to the children being more attached to their mothers than their fathers and some mothers have used this to kill the image of the fathers in homes. The importance of having family meetings in homes was discussed where family meetings lead to direction in the family,  creation of resources from combined effort, understanding of children better by assigning them responsibilities, and children are taught how to work well with people, teaching the children the importance of their goals and dreams.

RICNET REACHES OUT TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS THROUGH RADIO TALKSHOWS.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

during talk show

 As one of the thematic areas for RICNET is knowledge sharing and advocacy where communities are built by facilitating access to reliable , timely and relevant information, knowledge and skills in different fields, radio talk shows have been held on KRC Fm in fort portal City to share information on child safeguarding to the community. This was done to help the community to reinforce their community measures on child safeguarding through parenting and identifying hot spots to act as safe spaces for the out of school adolescents.

These talk shows have been attended by different stakeholders that is the cultural and religious

leaders, the community based facilitators and the peer educators. About parenting, the discussion was about the needs of children in different developmental stages where at physical development a child needs proper nutrition, shelter, play, protection from violence; Cognitive development involves simulation, colorful pictures, education, interactive play ,good nutrition, time for rest ;Emotional development  where a child needs supportive family, love, feelings secure, protection from neglect and emotional abuse ; Social development which involves good behavior  and positive role models. The four kinds of parenting were discussed that is firm, strict, permissive and non involved parenting.

The peer educators shared on the knowledge received from the sessions about life skills, building self esteem and confidence through their safe spaces, skills in business management, solving conflicts with their peers and being resilient from practices that lead them to be violent to themselves and to others in their communities.

WE HAVE NOT ONLY GAINED PARENTING SKILLS BUT ALSO AN INCREASE IN PRODUCTION AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL.

 

discussing with the group members

RICNET and RIDE-AFRICA carried out a monitoring visit to their project area to check on the progress of the project work especially the parenting and VSLA groups formed in the one and a half years in Kibiito town council, Bunyangabu District.

Information from all the groups visited showed that all the sessions in the modules were held and there is a positive response about parenting in Kibiito town council. From the responses of the members about what they learnt it was found out that positive discipline, Gender and spousal relationship were the most understood modules by the people. Money borrowed from the VSLA groups has been used to create and boost businesses and from this money has been got to provide necessities and school fees to children.

‘‘We have not only gained parenting and saving skills but there has been an increase in production of food at household level, we as a group we have decided to always visit each member and spend a day in his or her garden digging or planting crops and with this idea last season I and my wife harvested 5 sacks of maize and we sold them and got money to pay fees for children and provide other necessities.” Said Mr. Kamuhanda David.

It has been learnt that the Community Based Facilitators have been involved in the village meetings by the LC1 to solve the cases of violence in homes against the children and domestic violence as they have been seen to have the knowledge and the skills. There has been a reduction in the violence cases being reported at the LC1 due to the people changing after attending the parenting sessions. The Local Council chairpersons have also been trained in child protection by the cluster and they have helped in teaching other people through the village meetings, burials and other ceremonies hence helping in preventing violence against children.

David giving his testimony

SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES TRAINED ON ANTI- CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND ANTI- BULLYING POLICIES

 

Training on anti- corporal punishment and anti- bullying policies of the school management committees of the 12 schools in Kibiito town council was held at Kibiito Primary School organized by RIC-NET and RIDE AFRICA. The members in attendance were the chairpersons and members of SMC and PTA from Kibiito primary school, Kibiito SSS, St Francis Rwengwara, Bubwiika P/S, Moset P/S, St Adolf P/S, St John’s P/S, St. John’s H/S, St Elizabeth P/S and Light SSS.

 Training started with the over view of the project and VAC explained to the participants how it is faced by children in homes, at school and in the environment and the purpose of the meeting was clarified as how to end violence in schools through the policies in schools. Discussions on the different causes of violence in schools were held where unfriendly rules and regulations, sexual harassment, corporal punishments and insecurity were suggested among others.

Presentations on the anti corporal punishment and anti bullying policy were made and discussions were made where by the children’s body should be involved while making the rules and they should be agreed upon by the pupils and then sent to the administration to choose what can be adopted. Awareness of why the rules in the school so that the children are made aware of them and this can be done through the spot checks so that the children cannot see the rules as punishment in the school and explaining the consequences of the behaviors being fought to the pupils and students. It was agreed from the training, that the policies should be revised and awareness should be made to the students and pupils.

 

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS TRAINED ON GENDER AND SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIPS.

 

Parents and caregivers in Kibiito town council enrolled in the parenting groups of Maligo , Kyakahinda  A, B and Kagoma A and B have been trained on gender and spousal relationships two of the modules   of the parenting for respectability Program. (PFR)

oburungi bwa maligo group during the sessions

The community based facilitator introduced Gender sessions to the parents and caregivers on a weekly basis for one hour and 30 minutes every day. This module was trained to improve the parents understanding on gender and how society expectations hinder or facilitate children to reach their full potential. It is also intended to draw a clear distinction between gender, sex, gender roles and sex roles.

The overall goal of the gender module is to help men and women examine the relationship between being a man/boy and being woman/girl and how these can be used to promote non violent relationship within a family. At the end of this training the parents and caregivers had improved their understanding of how gendered power impacts on the lives of boys, girls, women and men; improved relationship between men , women, boys and girls within a family; involvement of men , women , boys and girls in making family decisions; reduced negative cultural , social norms and practices.

During experience sharing

The spousal relationship module was trained too and its main goal is to improve marital relationships in order to promote god parenting. It also aims at building marital relationships in order to promote good parenting and addresses issues regarding communication, spousal violence and resolving conflict.  At the end of the training parents and caregivers had improved knowledge about communication between spouses, reduced incidences of violence between spouses, reduced excessive use of drugs/ alcohol , improved constructive ways of resolving disputes among spouses and improved hygiene among spouses. “I thank RIC-NET for this program because I have learnt before attending this program we would have misunderstandings with my spouse and we quarrel in front of our children not knowing they were being affected but after these sessions we have changed and now we finish everything from our bedroom without our children knowing since we are both in the parenting groups.” Said a member of oburungi bwa maligo group.

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS TRAINED ON BONDING AND ATTACHMENT AND DISCPLINE OF CHILDREN

 

   Children are born very dependent on their parents and need a loving and secure environment for their growth. Family is seen as a safe place where parents are expected to provide care, attention and guidance for children.  As RIC-NET continues to train parents and care givers on Parenting for Respectability (PFR), the members of Kyakahinda united group, kyakahinda farmers, Oburubgi bwa maligo , Bright group, Kam kam group, Tugoborre group, Tukwatanize group, Tunywane group, Twimukye group and Twekambe group  were trained on Bonding and attachment and discipline of children  two of the modules of PFR  in Kibiito town council.

The main goal of bonding and attachment module is to strengthen family bonds and improve relationships. This module has five sessions and was trained for five weeks. The activities in this module supported parents and caregivers to go through a process of becoming more sensitive and aware of child’s needs, provide loving care for positive child development outcomes. At the end of training this module, the parents had gained skills on bonding and attachment with their children through parent child interaction, parent child communication and parental provision of children’s needs. 

During the bonding and attachment 

Later on the parents were taken through the Discipline module which has three sessions and this was trained in three weeks. This module addressed the harsh disciplining practices and it aimed at supporting parents and caregivers appreciate that the process of encouraging good behavior and practices among children is not a straight line. It requires a lot of consistence, modeling and discipline. The parents /caregiver’s ability and commitment to adapt the non harsh disciplining methods through creating awareness on the positive disciplining techniques was built. At the end of the training, the parents had appreciated and adopted the use of positive disciplining practices of their children.

During the roleplay in resolving conflict with children

RIC-NET CARRIES OUT ADVOCACY MEETINGS ABOUT CITIZENS AND PROTECTED ANIMALS PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE IN KASESE DISTRICT

 

During L.Katwe and Kisinga consultative meeting

Rwenzori Information Centers Network (RIC-NET) in partnership with Safer world and TPO is implementing a five years project on Addressing the drivers of conflict in Uganda; implemented in 14 districts in Uganda including Kasese. Baseline research was carried out and identified the issues of problem animals and the relationship between the citizens and the national park as one of the key conflicts in the Rwenzori region, especially Kasese.

consultative meeting with Central and Karusandara

As part of the approach to learning and building partnership for peaceful coexistence, RIC-NET conducted three consultative meetings for seven sub-counties of karusandara, Central division, Lake Katwe, Kisinga, Nyakatonzi, Mukunyu, and Nyakiyumbu  neighbouring queen Elizabeth national park  in Kasese district was organized targeting local leaders and selected members of the communities whose crops were destroyed by wildlife during the last four years. The overall purpose of the consultative meetings was to generate key issues and receive evidence from affected communities by problem animals that will be shared with key stakeholders from both district and central government to come up with lasting solutions to problem animals and a harmonized strategy on revenue sharing and compensation.

consultative meeting with nyakiyumbu, mukunyu and Nyakatonzi 

From these meetings, key advocacy issues and recommendations for resolving conflict with problem animals and building a harmonious peaceful existence with grass-root citizens bordering the national park were developed. Each sub-county chose one person to represent them at the district leader’s reflection meeting that was to be held at Verina gardens in kasese Municipality.

 

GROUPS TRAINED IN A HANDS ON SKILL

 

men and women with their baskets after the training

From the baseline survey carried out in Kibiito town council Bunyangabu District by RIC-NET and RIDE-AFRICA with funding from CRVPF in 2021, it was found out that 36% of the children and adolescents had ever experienced some form of violence in the past one year. More females 55% had faced violence than their male counter parts 45%.  It was also found out that the main cause of violence is mainly poverty among others.

men and women during the training

It was on this that the two organizations embarked on and looked for a way to minimize on the poverty among parents and caregivers in Kibiito town council and decided to train these people in a hands on skill (basket weaving) that is very cheap in buying materials, accessibility of the materials, ready market for the products produced and the time and capital needed to start in this skill as a business.

10 groups of men and women with membership of 210 in Kagoma B, C , Kasaali A, Kasaali B, Buwiika A, B, C, Kahogo, Rwengwara and Nkimbiri  were trained in this basket weaving. They embraced and appreciated the idea and were very quick to master the skill. A group of 10 women in Kagoma C mobilized themselves bought the materials and started weaving baskets and are now a known group for selling baskets in Kagoma trading centre.  There are change stories from people that practiced the business and cases of violence due to lack of basic needs has reduced among the children in Kibiito town council.

group of women in kagoma C

RIC-NET CARRIES OUT MOBILIZATION MEETINGS TO SENSITIZE COMMUNITIES ON PVAC IN BUNYANGABU DISTRICT.

A brief meeting with the LC1s pf the cells

 It was at the beginning of the year 2022, and RIC-NET had to mobilize people and sensitize them about prevention of violence against children through the Parenting for Respectability program (PFR) and enroll parents and caregivers in groups to be taught and sensitized about parenting.

Parenting for Respectability is a 12-16 session program designed to help parents acquire skills they need to prevent child abuse and to reduce partner violence. It is divided into five modules: Bonding and attachment, positive discipline, Gender, spousal relationships and father involvement in parenting. It is delivered in groups and on a weekly basis to parents and caregivers by community Based facilitators. (CBFs). 

During the sensitization meeting in Kyakahinda A

RIC-NET held a brief meeting with the chairpersons LC1s of the selected and remaining cells in Kibiito town council in Bunyangabu district to explain about the project and its objective. This was done for the chairpersons to understand the program and to help in mobilization of the people so that RIC-NET staff can sensitize these mobilized people about prevention of violence against children and to form groups of people that have adopted and liked the program to be taught about PFR.

Community mobilization meetings were held in Kagoma A, Kyakahinda A, Kyakahinda B, Maligo and Nyakahangi . The project was explained to the people and most appreciated the program and 10 groups were formed in the above cells each containing 20 people per group.  The people appreciated the program and each group chose the  day and time appropriate for all of them to be having the sessions. “ I am very glad for this program that is going to start in my village and to tell you the truth there is a lot of violence in homes and am so sure we are going to learn a lot from you and I request and urge people that have joined the groups to always come for the sessions so that we can increase our knowledge and skills on parenting so that Kyakahinda B can be a better place for us to live in. Thank you “the chairperson Kyakahinda B said.

Chairperson Kyakahinda B giving his remarks

 

 

Ellie writes about RIC-NET work with the Batwa

Adapted from the article by Eleonora Tomassi, https://faces2hearts.eu/east-southern-africa/the-batwa-peoples-struggle-for-tomorrow/

“Today the Batwa people are a marginalised minority of environmental refugees. They have little access to farmable land and many have been reduced to a life of extreme poverty, with begging as their only means of survival. As an ethnic group they face a real danger of complete extinction.

Learning about these people's recent history made me feel more conflicted than any of the projects I'd visited thus far. Their desperate turn to drinking and the resulting violence are easy to condemn, but sadly also easy to understand. Seeing the physical toll their situation had taken on them was heartbreaking, but it paled in comparison to the emotional suffering written in the lines of their faces.

I was relieved to learn of the wonderful work local NGOs, funded heavily by the European Union (EU), are doing to help improve their situation. RICNET, which stands for Rwenzori Information Centres Network, is one of these organisations. They work with fringe communities to help them overcome poverty, social exclusion and give them a voice.

RICNET is a member of the Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence (RWECO) whose main aim is to empower citizens in the Rwenzori region. The consortium was formed in 2008 as a coalition of Hivos partners in the region, but their projects depend on generous EU support.

The Batwa people are not the only community these NGOs are working to support. Their focus extends to women, youth, people with disability and those living with HIV/AIDS. They are also striving to help different tribes in the area get along, mediating past conflicts and setting the foundation for easier cohabitation.

They have set up a clever network of so-called "foot peace ambassadors". These community members are trained to promote peaceful co-existence through activities like drama performances, sports matches and cultural events.

But it was the Batwa people whose story truly tugged at my heart strings. The fear of being ostracised is one all of us can relate to. No human can thrive when they are made to feel unwanted at every turn, shunned by the outside world. Perhaps this is why the difficulties these people face as they try to integrate into the local community were so tough for me to swallow.

Theirs is an uphill struggle, every step forward met with resistance. After thirty seven of their children finally began attending a Catholic school in the area, they were faced with harsh bullying from their classmates for anything from their smell to their old clothes.

Yet for the first time in many years you can see glimmers of hope in the people's eyes. They are done allowing others' prejudice to define them and are beginning by addressing some of the harmful stereotypes. They have passed a bye-law that prohibits alcohol consumption during day time. They have started producing handmade crafts to sell to visitors. They have even started a church in hopes that it will help them back on their feet.

That's not all - ten of their youth even undertook vocational training in hair dressing and tailoring. Their next challenge is obtaining the hair styling tools and sewing machines necessary to open their own businesses.

These improvements would not be possible without the help of RWECO, RICNET and, of course, the EU. The Batwa community's gratitude was obvious as soon as we arrived. Their King, Nzito Jofuley, even honoured us with a ceremonial dance. As I watched the determination on his people's faces I knew they were ready to fight for the rights they'd been denied for so long.

After much clapping and laughter, I bought two ornate bowls from the selection they laid out in front of me shortly after my arrival. Despite their hardships the Batwa people clearly know a thing or two about beauty. Their ability to transform something ordinary into a thing of magic gives me confidence that they'll be able to transform their lives as well.”

By Ellie