The Do-Nation Foundation Street Theatre Initiative to Address Gender-Based Violence under the ‘Engendering Change’ Campaign visited Anse La Raye on Friday.
Do-Nation Foundation CEO Diane Felicien said the Anse La Raye event marked the launch of a street theatre series portraying real-life situations.
“It was unexpected, and the people in Anse La Raye took it so seriously because it was not the normal thing, and of course, we received feedback from the people based on the various scenarios,” Felicien told St. Lucia Times.
She explained that the interaction with the people of Anse La Raye allowed the street theatre organisers to discern how people viewed and understood gender-based violence.
In addition, Felicien disclosed that the organisers recognised that some people might stay in a volatile domestic situation out of love or the need for (financial) support.
“It was, overall, a great day,” she said of the Anse La Raye street theatre performance.
She told St. Lucia Times that people really appreciated the domestic violence message.
Do-Nation Foundation has planned seven more community street theatre performances on the domestic violence theme.
“We will not be advertising the dates, so we will be just showing up, just to get people’s reaction on the spot,” Felicien told St. Lucia Times.
The Government of Canada, through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), has funded the Do-Nation Foundation Street Theatre Initiative to Address Gender-Based Violence.
The project ‘uses the power of performance art to spark meaningful conversations and raise awareness about gender-based violence within communities’.
However, the Do-Nation Foundation CEO acknowledged challenges in getting the domestic violence message through to the population, highlighting the need for continuing education.
Felicien supported a call by Choiseul-Saltibus MP Bradley Felix to teach conflict resolution in schools and communities.
The MP’s call followed Saturday’s brutal chopping incident at a home in Industry, Choiseul, in which four individuals, including a five-year-old boy, two adult females, and an adult male, sustained injuries.
“People have to understand that they don’t have to resort to violence,” the Do-Nation Foundation CEO told St. Lucia Times.
Felicien described the Choiseul incident as sad and hoped people would not regard such incidents as the norm in dealing with conflicts.
She asserted that there was a need to send a strong message regarding such incidents.
According to Felicien, conflict resolution must also become part of family life, returning to values such as care, love, empathy, and looking out for each other.
“That’s where we need to start. It needs to start from the home. We have to look at it holistically,” she told St. Lucia Times.