Brighton Zimidzi
Entertainment
The Young Artists Development School (YADS) has begun celebrating 16 days of activism, against gender based Violence (GBV).
The youth organisation participated against GBV with a theater play titled “Indodakazi / Mwanasikana” which was showcased at the Bulawayo Theater on the 11th of November 2022.
The play is about a man who physically and verbally abuses his wife because she is not able to give him children. The woman then coincidentally picks up an abandoned girl infant whom her biological mother’s where-about is unknown. She takes the infant with her and takes care of her. The child grows up and becomes a teenager, then the father starts to sexually abuse the child.
“We decided to showcase the play during the 16 days of activism because the play addresses the issues of gender based violence and highlights the other cause of women abuse. We produced the play to provoke the issue of Gender based violence and other abuses to the Zimbabwean community so as to have open conversations on how these type of issues can be handled”, said YADS director, Mzingaye Ngwabi.
According to the Afro-barometer team in Zimbabwe, led by the Mass Public Institute (MPOI), GBV tops the list of important women rights issues that citizens say the government and society must address.
In Zimbabwe, 40% of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/ or sexual violence by an intimate partner. A Reports suggest that GBV intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps because isolation made it harder for victims to escape abuse and access support. GBV remains prevalent and vastly under-reported, as many survivors decide to suffer in silence rather than risk stigmatisation or an unresponsive legal system( Ahrens, 2006;Spotlight initiative, 2021;UNICEF, 2021)
Indodakazi/ Mwanasikana has been displayed at various high density suburbs in Bulawayo, for communities to discuss and suggest how best gender based violence and any other form of abuse can be eradicated.
Yads is a non profit organisation designed to allow young people interested in theater and film an opportunity to receive training from experienced theater and film practitioners on theater and film process from pre-production to post-production. All Yads productions cover issues concerning family, women, culture and community.