By Ibrahim S.Bangura
The United Nations Children’s Fund has on Friday December 9th, 2022 screened a movie titled ‘Vaillante’ to complement the 16 days of activism campaign to fight violence against girls and women in Sierra Leone.
The movie was screened at the John James Complex at Upgun in the east of Freetown attended by many pupils and teachers from various schools in Freetown.
The movie is about a 13-year old student who had been forced into early marriage and later died at child birth. It portrays the negative consequences of injustice, early marriage, and violence against girls and women, and accentuates the need to prioritize the education of every child.
According to the story early marriage sets the pace for many harmful consequences in the lives of girls and women today. It provides an opportunity for reflection on the need for a collective approach to fighting the Harmful Traditional Practices.
According to teachers and students who viewed it, the screening of the movie was very useful to them because it inspired, entertained and enlightened them to fight for theirs and others rights against violence and many others.
According to Comber Momoh, an SS3 pupil of the Saint Joseph’s Senior Secondary School commented that she learnt that violence against girls always make them become vulnerable in the societies.
Comber said that early marriage is one of the most frequent violence against girls today.
She advised that the girl child should not be forced into early marriage, but should attend school and be educated.
“Our parents should allow us to learn; they should make education a priority for us. When a girl child is educated, it is a benefit to not only the parents but also to the nation. Sometimes, lack of communication results in these entire problems; so I advise children to learn how to communicate with their parents whenever there is a need, whilst parents should also learn how to listen to their children. By doing so, we will understand one another and figure out what the problems may be.”
Alieu K. Musa, a Senior Teacher at the Government Independent Memorial Secondary School in Freetown said, “I was very much impressed by UNICEF for presenting this sensational movie to us and our pupils. The movie narrated that violence, rape together with other domestic violence against girls and women are not good and should not be tolerated if we want to live in a society. And in schools, corporal punishment should be avoided. What UNICEF has done is what we are always expecting from every individuals and organisations. We love to see more of this kind.”