A group of 35 laaities from Bridgetown is getting a helping hand in tackling gender-based violence in their communities, thanks to a new project by the Callas Foundation.
The Bridgetown Community Centre buzzed with excitement last Friday as the organisation launched the Triple B project aimed at providing boys with life skills and guidance from mentors.
Founder Caroline Peters says after two years of hard work, the team has compiled a three-month programme that will focus on violence, abuse and sexual consent.
Peters explains: “It has been two years in the making and it started at the end of 2022 when we saw parents coming to us, worried that their sons had been charged with sex crimes.
“What happens in most of the circumstances is that the boys did not even know the consensual age for sex and got into relationships.
“Later on, due to the age of the girls and the discovery by parents, they get charged criminally when in fact they had no criminal intent.”
Referencing studies by University of the Western Cape on men in Western Cape prisons, she found that nearly all of them turned to a life of crime due to a lack of male guidance.
Peters says: “Boys in our communities are just as vulnerable as girls. Building, Bonding, Beyond [Triple B] will see the introduction of a big brother programme where dads in the community come alongside boys and help with the guidance.
“In our households we are seeing boys being raised by single moms who already have their hands full and there are things like the first wet dream, going through puberty and many other issues [that aren’t tackled].”
The programme which is targeted at boys between the ages of 10 and 16 has been endorsed by the Women Judges Association, Community Safety MEC Reagan Allen, and the Saartjie Baartman Centre.