By Emmanuel Asonye | CEO/HOP Global
The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic brought a disruption of activities and negatively impacted life in many different ways. Nevertheless, it showed the world how to do things differently, and that includes us at the Beauty Beyond Speech project of Save the Deaf and Endangered Languages Initiative (S-DELI). Being one of the recipients of the $1000 from GlobalGiving in support of interventions focused on girls and women, we became equipped to launch the “Faces of BBS 2020” project which was recently conceived by our team of advocates.
Our Beauty Beyond Speech (BBS) project is designed to stop or at least curb all forms of domestic and sexual abuse against deaf girls and women in Africa beginning from Nigeria. For the past three years, we have engaged in several outreaches in the Nigeria deaf community, reaching out to victims of sexual and domestic abuse, and educating potential victims on what to do if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation. However, never have we had deaf young women boldly come up to tell their stories until the making of the “Faces of BBS 2020”.
The “Faces of BBS 2020” is designed to select five deaf girls and women across Nigeria with personal experiences of sexual and/or domestic abuse, who would be trained through our virtual platform to serve as ambassadors of the Beauty Beyond Speech project for the next one year. The deaf women would be paid after the one-month training, after which they would be equipped to use their online platforms as instruments of campaign against sexual and domestic abuse against deaf girls and women, during which time they will continue to receive a stipend from our organization.
The call was made in April/May 2020, and seven deaf young women applied from whom four were qualified and were selected. The four deaf women are currently receiving an online training covering several topics on the issue of sexual and domestic abuse. Some of the topics include, “Sexual and Domestic Abuse among Deaf Persons”, “Advocacy for Sexual and Domestic Abuse”, “Community Based Advocacy”, etc. the training will end on June 29th and the candidates are expected to graduate to begin their individual interventions against sexual and domestic abuse for at least one year.
During their intervention, the candidates are expected to reach out to other victims, help them know how to craft their stories and personal experiences of abuse, they are also expected to help them know how to live above the social stigma associated with their experiences, so that they can in turn teach and help others.
The “Faces of BBS will become an annual program, raising more deaf girls and women to speak up against sexual and domestic abuses and at the same time live above their experiences. The young women currently being trained are expected to reach out to other victims and the number of identified victims is expected to grow in geometrical progression until a coalition of voices is formed to join the global campaign against abuse and violence against deaf women and women with disabilities at large.
Currently, the training is running smoothly and in addition to the stipend that the deaf candidates will be paid at the end, they are given money for internet data to enable them take the training with little or no excuses. However, we feel that the stipend they will receive at the end of the training (N5000) is too small and should be increased. Also, we are not yet sure how much stipend they would receive when they begin their campaigns, but we believe they do deserve more. All of this depends on how much funds we have, and we will gladly love to pay them more to make them feel fulfilled for doing this. When they begin their campaign, it would be the first-time people with their experience, from their type of community would be coming out with the story of their experience. We are indeed glad about the direction the project is going and would like to invest whatever we have into this project to ensure that it is a success. We therefore continue to seek your support.
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