SCHOOL RELATED GENDER BASED VIOLENCE TURNING POINT: THE STORY OF AN SRGBV VICTIM, PERPETRATOR AND CHANGE AGENT Alice C. Tuei. KNUT (Kenya National Union of Teachers)
After serving for 10 years as a teacher, I was elected branch treasurer of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT and later a member of the National Executive Council (NEC). In 2016, I had the opportunity to attend a regional women’s caucus where Gender coordinator and the National Gender Desk Officers were facilitating a workshop on SRGBV. We shared our experiences as 25 branch women representatives from the Rift Valley Region. Women shared examples of abusive language, sexual abuse and discrimination among other forms of SRGBV. This moment marked my turning point in starting to look back and reflect on how I had been treating learners in school. I discovered that I had unconsciously been a perpetrator of SRGBV. I realized that although I was a victim, I should not have projected my feelings of anger and revenge onto learners and even my children. My life as a victim started from my childhood, being born fourth in a family of 18 siblings with a very harsh father. My father used to beat us thoroughly whenever we made a slight mistake and my two mothers were not safe either. Therefore, I grew up knowing that men beating women and children was “normal”. I can remember vividly when at the age of 12 in class six, my music teacher, Mr. Omari, entered our class majestically. His first command to us after
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