KISII, Kenya, Jul 6- Maureen Moraa, not her real name, was married for ten years and her expectation of raising a happy family was killed two years ago after her marriage turned into a cage of assaults from her husband.
Ten years in marriage with her husband, she says they sired three kids whom she had the dream of raising alongside her husband.
But things never worked out after several assault incidents and threats from her husband. With the trend only worsening, she quit her marriage.
Things fell apart after her husband lost his job during the COVID-19 period.
A man he had known as a hard worker turned into drinking and would often return home late.
The problem would arise every time she questioned his newfound behaviour and in return, her husband would physically attack her, alongside the children.
He would later kick them out in the cold, during the mid-night incidents.
“The assaults became more. I had hoped that he would change but I was wrong,” Moraa, who hails from Kisii County, said during an interview with Shahidi News.
“Even after getting a new job, he still continued with his violent habits and even threatened to kill me.”
This year she took her belonging and that of her kids and walked out of her dream marriage and decided to raise her children as a single mother.
With the small money she had, she started a small business in Kisii town.
She is among the gender-based violence victims who have celebrated the newly opened GBV centre in Kisii town, which she says will give a shoulder and a safe home for GBV victims.
With the establishment of a gender-based violence center in Kisii town, many women and girls will benefit by getting a shelter and a place to call a safe home whenever they get violated.
Speaking when she commissioned the Gender-Based Violence Center, (GBVC) in Kisii, Ida Odinga, the wife to Kenya’s former Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the center is a big boost in the fight against SGBV in Kisii and the Western Kenya region.
Odinga said women should not be taken as second-class citizens by being molested alongside their children.
She noted that many women and children face SGBV incidents in the eyes of communities where chiefs and police officers are aware.
She advised couples whenever marriage fails not to harm or kill their partners but rather, to let them walk away.
” I ask all of us to stop GBV in Women, Girls, Children, and the elderly. Let us be kind to women and children by respecting their rights. They are humans too,” said Ida Odinga.
Azimio one Kenya alliance presidential running mate Martha Karua said the center is a relief to the victims for their safety.
She said victims of SGBV will psychologically and physically get treatment and counseling at the centre.
Kisii Women rep Janet Ongera said Kisii county is ranked third in terms of GBV cases, which she said is worrying.
Kenya National Human Rights Commission Chief Executive Officer Benard Mogesa said in many cases unpaid work can be a source of conflict in families where the man is the breadwinner.
“Traditional believes have greatly contributed TO domestic violence among couples, living many with injuries or even death,” he said.
He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, such cases went high, with many remaining unreported.
The World Health Organization estimates that almost one-third of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence from intimate partners in their lives.
As many as 38 percent of all murders of women, WHO says are committed by intimate partners.
In Kenya, recent statistics which were released in 2014 indicate about 41 percent of women reported having experienced physical or sexual violence from their husbands and partners in their lifetime.
There is no up-to-date national data on domestic violence in Kenya but time-bound indicates how often the violence happens.
Kenya demographic and health survey conducted in 2014 indicated one out of four women had reported physical or sexual violence from their partners in that 12 months.
The survey indicated that societal and cultural norms were the main drivers of violence among partners whereby about 42 percent of them believed that beating wives was acceptable under some conditions.
Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries are committed to end all forms of gender-based violence by 2030.
The Kenyan government launched the national policy on prevention and response to gender-based violence in 2014 to respond to gender-based violence cases.
The 2010 Kenyan constitution has provisions for the protection from all forms of violence.
The government has also ratified treaties on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
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