By Sam Wright
One in four women in South Africa will experience violence by men and are five times more likely to be killed. A woman is murdered every four hours in South Africa.
Those are stats from the latest Gender Based Violence and it is chilling. I can write numerous horror stories of moments when myself and my friends have been placed in situations where we feel threatened by our male counterparts or have become, or know of other women, who contribute to one of those statistics. When Covid-19 hit and South Africa went into lock down more than 300 days ago, the country saw a surge of GBV cases. Imagine the terror of being stuck, courtesy of lock down and curfew, with someone who takes out their anger, frustration or even annoyance at a lack of alcohol, on you. I can't even begin to comprehend the terror.
Vodacom, a South African cellular provider, launched an app called Bright Sky. Bright Sky is a free app for both Android and iOS.
You can download the Android app here.
You can download he iOS app here.
Make sure you download Bright Sky SA, as the Vodafone Group has an international app as well. The app is meant to assist victims of gender-based violence and domestic abuse. It works on any smartphones and tablets as well. The app has a host of useful resources and offers up a questionnaire to assist you in determining if you are in an abusive relationship. There are a host of resources made available and by using geolocation the app can share support services that are closest to the user. The app is also available in three official languages, namely English, isiZulu and Sesotho. It is also free to download.
Now zero-rated
The bright Sky SA app has now been zero-rated by Vodacom. What does this mean? If you're a Vodacom user you will not pay a cent for data to download the app or access any of the referral links included in the support services section of the app. The idea here is obviously that not everyone can afford data. If you are a victim of GBV and find yourself with a moment alone and need support - data shouldn't be the thing that stands in the way. By zero-rating the app, you'll be able to access all the resources shared and the app itself.
I'd really like to see the other service providers locally, namely MTN, Cell C and Telkom follow Vodacom's lead here. While it might be a Vodacom app - I think zero-rating it on all networks would go a long way to helping victims of Gender Based Violence.
If you're a victim, looking for support or just curious about what resources are available - here are some of the links available in the app (and if you visit these sites, zero-rated) that could help you or a loved one. Make sure you share them with all the ladies in your life:
https://health-e.org.za/survivor-support/
https://www.liveyourdream.org/get-help/domestic-violence-resources.html
https://family.findlaw.com/domestic-violence/domestic-violence-victim-resources.html
https://www.saferspaces.org.za/understand/entry/gender-based-violence-in-south-africa
https://www.nsmsa.org.za/shelter-directory
*Sam "Tech Girl" Wright is an esports shoutcaster and content creator in South Africa, you can see more of her content here.