GRIP EDUCATES 14-YEAR OLDS - Lowvelder reporter
Lowvelder 24 MARCH 2003
Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (LCBT) held their first bi-monthly business breakfast at Emnotweni Sun.
Guest speaker Ms Barbara Kenyon, CEO of the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project (Grip), shared her vision for Grip and said it was important for them to thank the business and tourism communities for their support.
Kenyon touched on the importance of pre-court training for children and said they would like to extend this to adults, as they were usually intimidated by the court experience.
Since a Grip survey on rapists recently showed a significant increase in the number of rapes committed by boys between the ages of 12-18 Grip realised that they must also address the causes of rape and try to reduce violent crimes.
To do this Grip implemented an educational programme to raise awareness of rape and violent crime with the aim of decreasing the incidences of these crimes and HIV/Aids.
This programme targets 14-year-old boys with the aim of changing their mindset. Activities include community work, training and sports participation.
According to Mr Mark Schormann, one of the directors of LCBT, meetings like this were important in the sense that they gave members the opportunity of getting together to share ideas. Schormann said they decided to use Kenyon as speaker because Aids had a major impact on the work environment and civil society. Businesses needed to prepare themselves for the next phase of the epidemic.
Grip gave back to the community by helping businesses to put Aids policies in place. This included ongoing educational talks on HIV/Aids and violence to employees and their families - if staff members or their relatives were raped, Grip would provide antiretroviral therapy free of charge. Grip also provided assistance with interdicts, maintenance, protection orders and HIV counselling.
Businesses that would like to make use of this service could contact Grip on 013-752-4404.
