Men/boys in women high heel shoes |
In an attempt to bring to the forefront of public consciousness
the plight of the 270 Nigerian Chibok Schoolgirls abducted by the extremist
Boko Haram sect some two months ago, and as part of activities to mark this
year’s Father’s Day in Cameroon, men from all tribes and backgrounds would
converge on Bamenda city on Saturday July 5, 2014, to walk on women’s high heel
shoes for a distance of 1.2km, an equivalent of a mile, in protest against the
physical, psychological, and mental torture being meted on the captured female
students, and an urgent call to action by the international community.
The ‘Men in Women’s High Heel Shoes’ protest march called for by
A Common Future, a leading Bamenda-based organization working with men and boys
to end violence against women, will act like a booster to the efforts already
being undertaken on its side by the Cameroon government and elite forces to
discourage the sect from using Cameroon soil as a hideout.
The peaceful and awareness-raising protest that starts from City
Chemist Roundabout at 9 a.m to Bamenda’s Commercial Avenue Groundstand, shall
see over 100 well-meaning men and boys throw their weight and compassion behind
the affected families, especially parents of the kidnapped girls.
As fathers themselves, the men in women’s high heel shoes would
be sending the message that child bearing is a challenging and delicate task
and nobody should be allowed to use children as soft targets.
By marching in women’s high heel shoes, these men would be
reminding the powers that be, especially member states of the United Nations
that they make be taking all their time because the Chibok girls are not their
direct off springs. If they were, they would have known how the shoe pinches.
The pain that the men and boys wearing the shoes would go through as they
protest, remind them and by extension the international community of the adage
that ‘s/he who wears the shoes knows where they pinches’.
The men involved in the protest want to send a clear message
that children bring fulfillment in fatherhood, reason why those who do not have
them go the length and breathe of the world seeking them, even to spiritual
churches. While in their homes, the Chibok girls looked up to their fathers to
show them what men value in women and what it means to be a woman of dignity in
future. Unfortunately with the Boko Haram abduction, the girls are today
looking up for direction and survival from complete strangers.
As part of this year’s Father’s Day activities, the protest
march will reassure other girls in society that fathers are still their
protectors and supporters. Children grow up with the understanding that no one
is stronger, bigger, and capable to scare away monsters better than their
daddy. To a child, the father is the intimate shield of evil, the guardian of
safety, and keeper of comfort. The Chibok school girls held this to be true
until the other men, unlike their biological fathers came calling.
This symbolic protest would be a venue par excellence where
well-meaning father’s would be brought to show their dissatisfaction with the
way society has disfavored girls in preference to boys to the extent that Boko
Haram believes girls do not have a right to an education as they are property,
good only for marriage.
Those taking part in the ‘Men in Women’s High Heel Shoes walkaton’
would be articulating issues of gender equality that ‘Men of quality do not
fear equality’. They are proposing alternative models of masculinity that are
not necessarily in opposition to models of femininity and that allow men and
women to share sexual and reproductive health responsibilities, love, and above
all, decision making as both men and women have a common future.
Your Support
If for any reason you cannot be part of this history making
protest march that enhances the global ‘Bring Back our Children’ campaign, send
us material and financial support to provide snacks and transport to the
protesters who would be exhausted after the challenging experience.
The Men on Women’s High Heel Shoes Walkaton comes on the heels
of the 4th edition of A Common Future Human Rights Film and
Arts Festival that holds in the North West from July 15-22, 2014, in community
halls and schools under the theme: ‘Enhancing the Dignity of Women, Girls and
Children; Promoting Internet Access as a Human Right’. This international and
highly mediatized event which shall be streamed live on the newly launched web
TV, Dignity Television, shall showcase most sort after box office films and
documentaries from across the globe and shall address issues like violence
against women, rape, trafficking in person, widowhood rights, HIV/AIDS, as well
as men taking affirmative action to end all forms of discrimination against
women in society.
For more information
on the walkaton and
festival, contact us at acommonfuture1@yahoo.com or
237 94 94 28 78. Our other activities could be sourced at www.freetocharities.org.uk/acf orwww.acommonfuture3.blogspot.com and
www.dignitytelevision.blogspot.com.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
No comments:
Post a Comment