Father A Nation
HEALING BOYS, MEN AND FATHERS CAN BRING REAL CHANGE TO GBV
The saying “action speaks louder than words” could not be more relevant during this 16 Days of Activism, with South Africa’s rate of rape and femicide towards women and children being among the highest in the world. The time for talk is over and all effort and resources must be refocused towards combatting our country’s real pandemic, Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
This year, in addition to the contributions towards organisations aimed at supporting women and children, Bettabets also provided support to an organisation that seeks to change the narrative, shifting from a focus on the victim, to a focus on the perpetrator in order to identify why GBV is happening and developing programmes and interventions to prevent it from happening.
Father A Nation (FAN) is a Non-Profit Company that addresses GBV, crime and fatherlessness by restoring and equipping men to be nation-builders, fathers and role models. They teach men to use their strength to love, serve, protect and provide and to be activists against any form of abuse.|
This 8 December 2021, FAN opened its first #NOEXCUSES support centre in Alexandra, Johannesburg which will provide counseling, training and mentoring services for men and boys who want to be part of the change and to support this initiative, Bettabets donated R170 000 worth of office furniture items to the centre.
The aim of the centre is to equip community members with skills, awareness and resources that will allow them to understand their power and role in society and make it work for their self improvement and the greater good.
“We are living at a point of crisis where 80% of South African homes have children but no father. We are also seeing the rates of rape and other forms of GBV continue to escalate during the Covid-19 era,” says Wilkinson. “No man is born an abuser or an absent father. It is a result of years and sometimes generations of neglected t rauma, incomplete childhoods and socio-economic ills. These are by no means excuses for the violence we are seeing, but they represent an opportunity to deal with the problem at its root.”
Nicolas Lambrakis, co-founder and Director at Bettabets said, “Far reaching impact is what we look for when it comes to supporting a cause and the important work FAN does stretches through many communities and will be felt for generations to come. It’s an honour to be part of their noble journey in building our nation.”
We wish FAN all the very best on this new endeavor and are privileged to have been given the opportunity to be part of this journey in helping create a Betta Life for our communities.
