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Amazing Amazons….Helping women have a voice

By Kemi Amushan
23 July 2016   |   4:01 am
The reason I started this initiative was I had some experience as a woman at an early stage in my life and during those trying times in my life, I didn’t get any support from anywhere and couldn’t run to my family.
Amazing Amazon

Amazing Amazon

Mrs Mercy Makinde is the founder of Amazing Amazon Initiative. It is a support group for women from all walks of life dedicated to their empowerment, enhancement, upliftment, personal growth and development. It is an action orientated group that would not just preach about women empowerment or betterment but will take practical steps and actions to support and assist women in all areas of their lives; Business, Relationship, Career, Marriage, Parenting e.t.c. In this short interview, She and two of her other team members talk about how the Initiative was birthed and their Journey so far.

What prompted this Initiative, was it personal experience?
The reason I started this initiative was I had some experience as a woman at an early stage in my life and during those trying times in my life, I didn’t get any support from anywhere and couldn’t run to my family. The challenge at the time was a bad marriage. I was physically abused in my marriage for 11 years and I didn’t have any one to talk or seek support from, I was just stuck there, no education, no job, no money and financial and emotional security.

I was abused emotionally, physically and sexually. And I just didn’t have any help from anywhere. Eventually, I found courage to get out of that relationship and I vowed to myself I won’t watch any woman go through that kind of experience. so when God gave me that capacity and the ability, I set up the AAI to support women generally, not necessarily from a bad marriage.

When a child or children are involved in a breakup or divorce, one of the parent is given sole custody of the child or better still,they have shared custody at least till they get old enough to make their own decisions. Sometimes it actually goes beyond the parent, the society we are in see all these things as a normal thing and everyone just ignores it. They would say things like ‘’it is my tradition, na so we dey do am for our side’’, all these add up and makes it difficult for women to voice out their problems. The few of us who gather courage to do so are seen as lone voices in the wilderness.

In my own experience I didn’t talk for 11 years I didn’t open up until I left. The type of derogatory words that is attached to women that walk out of abusive marriages in this part of the world is waywardness, prostitutes and because of words like these a lot of women are speaking out. We have seen and heard experiences of women who have died in the process and their children are left to suffer in the hands of their abusive father or stranger. The kids are always at the receiving end. So that is why we are creating the awareness that there is nothing wrong if a woman leaves a relationship that is killing her. If you are being abused, you can walk away to save your life.

Beyond just preaching this message, we empower the women, because just in many cases like mine, I couldn’t leave because I wasn’t sure of the next daily bread. No Means of survival. That is why we are encouraging women to work and make a living, because most times the people that are oppressed in such situations are those who don’t have financial capability. As we advocate to nurture and train our girls right I think same should go for the boys so they do not feel superior from the beginning.

What is your mission?
What we are trying to do is teach women a sense of responsibility, to learn to take their destinies in their own hands, help the next woman. Most cases of domestic violence that happens abroad, it is not the victims that calls the police but in most cases, their neighbors. Let’s all get civil to say and put to shame what is wrong or bad for what is bad has no other name.

What programmes have you come up with since you started this Initiative?
We have business seminars to empower women financially, relationship and marriage seminars as per what is expected of them as mothers and wives; we have health and leadership seminars among others. We train market women on financial and basic literacy too. As part of our action-oriented initiative, we donated to the widows home during the week.

Subsequently, we would be going to schools to educate them on what to expect in the reality of life. It’s all action oriented, not talk shows.

How do you raise funds for these visits, seminars and other programmes?
We do individual contribution mostly because we are yet to get support from outsiders. Right now we are still sustaining ourselves with what we have.

What is your advice for women like yourself out there?
Drop your sense of entitlements and pick up your sense of responsibility.

Ayo Alli-Balogun who is the Head of project, Amazing Amazons Initiative also said a bit about the initiative. She added that ‘’Just like most women of the AAI I joined because of my determination to contribute to society. There is so much to be changed in our society in terms of attitudinal re-orientation of our people, we cant continue to say the society is bad where we have it all to make change happen and the change starts from us. A good society starts from the family unit.

One major reason why women are not coming out to seek political power, she said from my perception, is the fear of rejection. She thinks a lot of women fear being rejected basically and they have the fear of being capable of doing the right thing.

On AAI’s will to support women to contest for political position, she said yes, because the group of women would support. She also advised us, women to loose our sense of entitlement and aquire a sense of responsibility, because it makes us part of community service and development and we won’t be too far off from aspiring for political position.

Funmi Eko Eze, the Head of communications AAI added ‘’we have a mission to teach, help and encourage womanhood to break the stereotype that women cannot work together.

We realize the family unit has to get better for the society and country generally to get better and so it is time for women to be agents of chance, backed with integrity, truth and responsibility. We are practical especially on how to improve ourselves and business and family life. We decided to donate to the widows and we are contributing towards that cause to take care of them as well because they need support to raise their children’’.

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