“It’s hard for them because people respect the church so much and they are not willing to come out and talk about their issues, because they say it’s shameful and they feel guilty and all sorts of things are attached to it.”
Customs, tradition and religion can be barriers to solving problems of youth and sexual violence, says a community counsellor. Rapid technological change including the widespread use of mobile phones is one of the factors behind increasing violence, Tess Fruean believes.
“There are so many changes, and while we are predominantly a Christian country, I think that Christianity can also be a barrier, because a lot of people feel they cannot speak out.”
It’s a problem recognised by the church, with the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S) asking Ms. Fruean to be one of the trainers at a two day workshop on Youth Violence, Sexual Violence. Said Ms. Fruean,
“It’s hard for them because people respect the church so much and they are not willing to come out and talk about their issues, because they said it’s shameful and feel guilty and all sorts of things are attached to it.”
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2469982834957525";
/* Left 300X250 */
google_ad_slot = "8433753430";
google_ad_width = 300;
google_ad_height = 250;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script> {/googleAds}
The workshop was held at the C.C.C.S Youth Hall last week. Starting were four members from each congregation of Savaii, finishing Friday with four members from each congregation around Upolu.
A nine question survey was distributed to participants to prompt discussion, along with 10 myths about sexual violence.
The programme “targets the C.C.C.S. youth and really is to create awareness to help young people understand about violence especially sexual violence especially since it’s a growing concern in Samoa right now”, said Ms. Fruean.
“So the program covers the aspects of violence, the types of violence there are and we’ve had activities that we ask the young people to share their perceptions of violence because everyone has different perceptions and it’s just really to try and get their understanding and what they think about violence in general.
“We’ve also looked at risk factors - what kind of person that is likely to commit violent acts and we looked at other risk factors as well.
“We looked at different kinds of risk that make somebody become violent, so another factor will be biological or personality.
“It is also to do with the environment, how the person interacts with their partners, families, at school and in work places, so the environment also plays a big influence, because the individual interacts with the environment on daily basis. Ms. Fruean acknowledges the invitation from the church to hold the workshop for C.C.C.S. youth.
“But it is a program that should be addresses to all the youths of Samoa.
“It is also a good way to get the young people to share what they already know because most of them who have suffered sexual violence never want to talk about it.
“Having programmes like this will help them talk about the issue,” she said.
“The church vision of targeting the youth is to use them as advocates so they can take what they learn from here, and take it out to the community and share what they have learned from this workshop. Ms. Fruean said that technology is changing faster than the ability of families and communities to absorb those changes.
“The special technological changes that are happening, it’s really fast and with all these technologies I don’t think we are ready to provide support for the people that need the support.
“It’s the values that changed as well, with families meaning togetherness, but now there are hardly any in our country.
“We can also say that our culture and tradition is one of the barriers to stop the youth from speaking out. In some cases, parents are committing sexual violence towards their children, but there is that saying of respecting our parents, so that can be a barrier to stop children from talking.
“Violent acts need to be dealt with on many levels as they are a consequence of multiple factors such as biological, psychological, social and environmental. While each level in the ecological model represents a risk, it also can be looked at as place for key intervention.”
Other speakers included Ministry of Health officials Selaupasene Ualesi and Fa’aifoasu Moala. From Police, Junior Tofilau and Henifa Bryce also spoke.
Church leaders spoke from spiritual perspectives, while providing evaluation and feedback. How to avoid violence Defusion techniques are used as soon as early warning signs or ‘triggers’ appear, that a problem is likely to develop.
● Interrupt undesirable behaviour
● Redirect person to acceptable task
● To distract person’s attention to something else
● Keep emotional temperature as low as possible
● Address other person calmly and quietly
● Use their first name frequently
● Maintain eye contact (but avoid staring)
● Speak slowly, deliberatively, use calming gestures
● Practice active listening
● Acknowledging anger e.g. “I can see that you’re angry ...”
● Assertive “I” messages help you control what you are saying
<!-- 336x280 (bottom-article) -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-2469982834957525"
data-ad-slot="1033882026"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script> {/googleAds}