Break the Silence News!

Break the Silence News! A Monthly Bulleting of Tamar Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Volume 9 January 2016 - February 2016 Edition participants to help carry out health awareness DFID trains campaign among stakeholders in the various 46 doctors, nurses, counselors and communities in Nigeria through the churches, social workers on rape in Enugu mosques and schools. Also speaking at the event in Enugu, one of the Justice For All (J4A) Programme of the Department trainers/facilitators from Manchester who for International Development (DFID), have begun incidentally is the Centre Manager of St. Mary's the training of 46 medical practitioners and social Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester City, workers on how to handle rape victims. Mrs. Bernie Ryan, said that the essence of the st th The ﬁve days training which started from 1 -5 training was to impart practical knowledge and wide February 2016, was organized in Enugu for different scale experience to participants in relation to states across the federation. The objective was on the providing services to victims of sexual violence in need to set up a Sexual Assault Referral Centre and terms of physical, emotional and medical support. train participants on how to manage it as well as She extolled the participants and urged them to respond to the victims properly. The participants change their mindset and attitudes toward sexual drawn from Zamfara, Yobe, Kaduna, Enugu, Ekiti, assault victims so that more people could be helped. Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, were being A medical consultant and participant, Dr Nene trained on technical skills, forensic examination and Andem, said that the training had exposed her a lot to counseling. the challenges in the treatment of victims, but she has In her welcoming speech the Regional Coordinator learnt to be more practical and not to be judgmental of J4A in Enugu Mrs. Josephine Onah, said that the towards victims of rape. programme was organized to train and equip counselors, social workers, doctors and nurses with the required skills to function effectively in a sexual assault referral centre, as well as acquire the internationally best practice in responding to victims of such nature. She noted that J4A would continue to support SARC to ensure that the initiative is sustained in more states across Nigeria by establishing additional SARCs. She encouraged the [email protected] [email protected] On this Issues: WACOL/Tamar SARC DFID trains Sensitise Rural Health Workers 46 doctors, nurses, counselors and on Treatment of Rape Victims Page 2 social workers on rape in Enugu Page 1 Department For International DFIDDevelopment WACOL/Tamar SARC Partner with Rotaractors to Defilement: Tamar SARC J4A Fight Sexual Violence on Campus Takes Campaign to Primary Schools Page 2-3 JUSTICE FOR ALL Page 3 Over 7000 Secondary Students Educated on Rape by the Enugu SARC Page 4 w w w . w a c o l n i g e r i a . o r g Tamar SARC Technical Group (TG) Meets to Strategize on Campaign Against Sexual Violence Page 4 January 2016 - February 2016 Edition C amar SAR by allowing the health workers to present questions or WACOL/T orkers comments they had. Questions that came up include ural Health Wictims “Are perpetrators made to pay for the victim's Sensitise R ape V treatment at Tamar SARC? Will the perpetrators just on Treatment of R go free? Does Tamar SARC have a medium to help were represented by these victims prosecute their cases? These questions were facilities Eburumiri, Isi-Agu, responded to judiciously by the facilitators. Ibagwa-Aka, Obaka, Ovoko-Agu, Iheaka, Alor-Agu, Ovoko, Ekoyi, Uhunowerre and Itchi-Agu. Defilement: Tamar SARC Takes Campaign to Primary Schools Those from Agwu were picked from Ugwueme, Mgidi, Ogugu, A w g u , M m a k u , I t u k u , NgeneUgbo, Owelli, Ezere, Ihe, Obeagu, Agbudu, Ekpulato, Ogbaku, Amow, Mgbo, Agulese ore than 300 health workers from the Ugwueme, Ugwushi and Agbogugu. rural areas have been trained by Tamar Enugu South was represented by the Gariki Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), M Health Centre while those from Aninri were picked Enugu on how to handle and refer rape victims to omen's Aid Collective (WACOL)/Tamar from Aninri, Ndeaboh, and Nenwe Cottage the centre. The aim was to increase the knowledge Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Hospital. During the programme, Tamar SARC of the health workers on the incidences of sexual recently conducted outreach programmes facilitators enlightened the health workers on the W violence and rape, create awareness on the in approximately 20 primary schools in Enugu State. prevalence of SGBV in Enugu State, educated preventive measures and tips to avoid rape among Due to the heightened number of reported SGBV cases them on how to effectively refer victims to the health workers and the public. It was also to plaguing women and children of all ages, Tamar SARC Centre and appealed to the health workers to act improve case reporting from the health facilities to decided to travel to rural and urban areas in the state to as change agents in their communities by the center and break the culture of silence. speak to young pupils about the crisis, give support to creating the awareness on sexual violence, The outreach was extended to randomly picked those affected and ultimately help manage the crisis. encouraging strong parent-child relationships to communities in Awgu, Aninri, Enugu South, and Tamar SARC staff, accompanied by WACOL change dictate early signs of abuse as well as advocate Igbo-Eze South local government areas. agents, partnered with Enugu State Universal Basic for breaking the culture of silence. Tamar SARC To enable a larger number of health workers to Education Board {ENSUBEB} to speak to also informed them of the comprehensive gain from the sensitization, Tamar SARC approximately 18,000 staff and pupils in the various psychosocial, medical, and legal services offered assembled the officers in charge of the various schools across Enugu State. at the Centre and advised them to refer all victims facilities as well as other health staff in each of the Among the schools visited were Igbariam Primary to them. This they said is because the above LGAs, making a total 32 health facilities School, Achara Layout, Enugu (comprising of 3 professionals working at the Centre have been represented and imparted on them. The health schools); Central Primary School, Amechi (comprising trained specifically on how to treat sexual abuse workers were to serve as referral focal persons of 2 schools); St. Theresa's Primary School, Abakpa victims, , do counselling as well as preserve representing their facilities and send cases of SGBV (comprising of 8 schools); CPS, Amorji Nike forensic evidence. to Tamar SARC, as well as further inform the Centre (comprising of 2 schools) and WTC Primary School, An interactive session gave Tamar SARC the of future collaborations. Enugu (comprising of 5 schools). opportunity to truly engage with the community The health workers drawn from Igbo-Eze South 2 Break the Silence January 2016 - February 2016 Edition WACOL/Tamar SARC Partner with Rotaractors to The team generally enumerated the key Fight Sexual Violence on Campus objectives of the sensitisation programme, which was to increase the knowledge of the pupils h e R o t a r a c t C l u b about incidences of sexual violence and rape. International of the They also created awareness on the preventive TUniversity of Nigeria, measures and tips to help avoid rape among Nsukka, and Tamar Sexual pupils, increasing the number of cases reported Assault Referral Center (SARC), from school age children, as well as to break the Enugu collaborated to ensure culture of silence. the eradication of rape in the During the programme, Tamar SARC tertiary institution. representatives enlightened the pupils and their The pact was made when the teachers on the prevalence of SGBV in Enugu, S A R C t e a m j o i n e d t h e educated them on the preventative measures rotaractors in their monthly while dwelling more on the reason for such fellowship to sensitise the students on the prevalence of rape in the society, especially in university campuses. drastic increase in such cases. They also informed The UNN Rotaract Club promised to take the “Stop Rape Campaign” not only around their school environs, them about the existence of comprehensive, but also to other campuses during their combined meetings. psychosocial, medical and legal services offered The president of the club, Rotaractor Pedro, affirmed the commitment of his administration to lead the by Tamar SARC and WACOL. campaign against vices that characterised university students in the country among which sexual violence is The pupils were also told that due to the high prominent. number of cases affecting children at their stage Pedro, who is also the Students' Union President, also promised to use his office to create more platforms of life, there was a need for them to be cautious where all the students would be educated on the ways of preventing the malady. around strangers, to be wary of gifts and sweets ``Gone are the days when sexual violence was the order of the day in the campuses; people must know that from non-family members. They were also there are consequences for transgressing and those consequences must be faced. When people are aware of advised to report any sexual abuse to trusted these things, and we continue to talk about them, we are winning the war gradually,” the SUG president said. adults and Tamar SARC, regardless of any threats Earlier in her presentation, the Communication Officer of WACOL/Tamar SARC, Mrs.

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