25 November, Jeddah – Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah held activities in observance of the National Consciousness Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Children pursuant to RA 10398 and in support of PCW’s 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women and Children.

The activities consisted of a lecture and a film-showing on  “Violence Against Women and Children” which was delivered by Post’s Social Welfare Attaché Josephine A. Arang. To fortify the understanding of the attendees of the subject of the lecture, it was interspersed with a “Powerwalk” exercise in which the participants were made to identify the aspects of empowerment of genders in the context of specific roles in society; and “Gender-based Violence Tree” presentation, in relation to which the participants were made aware of the various categories of gender-based violence: ( e. g. sexual, physical, emotional and psychological, socio-economic), harmful traditional practices, female genital mutilation and child marriage;

After the lecture, the attendees were requested to evaluate the activity on the basis of what they learned from it and how they feel after having been clarified on issues concerning violence against women and children, which impact on them. A big majority rated their experience in the activity as “satisfactory”..

A film showing followed the lecture featured “Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy”, a 2013 Filipino comedy parody film produced by Star Cinema which won the 2013 Metro Manila Film Festival Award for Most Gender-Sensitive Film as it raised awareness on gender equality concerns.

Invited to participate in the lecture-film showing activities were the 74 distressed men and women (77% women), who are under the care of the Consulate’s Migrant Workers and Other Filipino Resource Center (MWOFRC) and temporary shelter for overstaying male OFWs. They were welcomed by Consul General Leo Tito L. Ausan, Jr. who appealed to them to , henceforth, abhor violence against women and children and be gender-sensitive as they put to good use what they’ll learn in the lecture and the film.

Additionally, Dr. Amelito S. Adel, a senior OWWA Welfare Officer at POLO-Jeddah, lectured  on sexually transmitted disease (STD) and ways preventing them in the context of gender sensitivity. END