Nicolette Dirk
POETRY, dance, motivational speakers and some well-needed pamper sessions.
These are just some of the ways Hanover Park’s women will be ending Women’s Month tomorrow at the Hanover Park Civic Centre.
Event organiser Carol Van Wyk said they are expecting 500 women to attend.
The day’s programme themed “Reason to Smile” is a way to remind the women in the area that despite their circumstances, there is still hope.
Van Wyk is the chairperson of the community based organisation She-Chem that focuses on upliftment of youth, women, disabled and elderly people in Hanover Park.
“We are going to focus on spoiling these women. They will be getting lunch, enjoy live performance by local bands and go home with a goodie bag.
“There will also be hairdressers and massage therapists to provide some pampering.
“When they go home after Saturday they can always remember how special they felt when they go through their times and remember that there is a reason to smile,” said Van Wyk.
She said many of the women in Hanover Park never get a chance to leave their homes because they have to deal with drug abuse in the household. Some just cannot afford to leave the area because they just don’t have the money to do so.
Van Wyk herself faces her own adversity looking after her husband who is wheelchair-bound while she herself does not have permanent employment.
One of Van Wyk’s best friends Amelia Pedro will also be helping out tomorrow.
Pedro is a pastor at the Heirs of Salvation Church which is a long way from her life of living on the streets of Hanover Park.
“I fell for all the evils in the area when I dropped out of school in Grade 11. I was involved in gangsterism and even spent time in jail. It’s all about the choices you make,” she said.
After marrying a gangster at the age of 18, Pedro was a battered mother by the time she was 22.
“That’s when I decided to divorce my husband and move back to my parents.
“But it was very hard because at that time there were no organisations to help women get back on their feet,” she said.
But she refused to be a statistic doing menial jobs to survive and went back to school at the age of 31.
She matriculated from Bridgetown High five years ago and ever since has been involved in community-based organisations like The Haven and Oasis to help youth get back on their feet.
“Saturday is such an important day because in the last five years so many women in Hanover Park have lost their husbands, sons and boyfriends because of the gangsterism in the area. This will be a day where we can just dress up and celebrate being women,” she said.