16days, 16 poems, the fight continues...
when you choose silence
you choose violence
when you choose to mind your business
you are making a statement
meant to increase trauma
adding anguish
squashing gains made.
I hope you choose to be bold
don’t fold to keep your peace
cowering in your comfort
of, it does not concern me
it does,
please, stand for us, stand with us.
When I made the decision to write 16 poems, I had not figured out how it would all come out.
What themes would inform each poem, what stories would authentically capture the disparities on gender based violence response and what advocacy voices would help make strides towards the end of GBV? But as days went on, you all kept me going. Women shared their stories, men added their voices on the cause.
Ending gender based violence needs all of us to sing the same song. It needs policy makers to intentionally and continuously advocate for the rights of women and girls. Ending GBV requires us to call on governments to put across laws that protect women. Ending gender based violence is funding women rights organisations.
The journey continues, it will not end here with poetry, it will not end here with 16days.
Thank you for taking time to read each poem, for sharing each poem, and for doing something about gender based violence.
Till we meet again, the fight continues.
“Our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry” - Rupi Kaur
