Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 13, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): On Thursday (October 12, 2023) local non-profit organization, Silence No More held their 5th annual breakfast symposium under the theme “From Broken to Beautiful” in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
In an interview with ZIZ news, President of the organization, Petra McSheene-Morton explained the purpose of the event.
“The purpose of that event is to reach out to family members of victims of domestic violence, to honor and remember them, we’ve given them like a food basket or a gift basket just to show that Silence No More is there for them and we are thinking about them and we haven’t forgotten their family members who passed.”
Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Terrence Drew was also in attendance and he assisted with the distribution of gift baskets to the victims’ family members.
McSheene-Morton shared that the symposium also had testimony from a survivor as well as a presentation on the topic “How to effectively manage anger”.
“We had a domestic violence survivor. She spoke about her story, her experience with domestic violence. The main topic we had was “How to Effectively Manage Anger”, which was done by Pastor Jermaine Thomas, he’s the counselor for Silence No More.”
She also spoke of the significance of highlighting the issue of domestic violence.
“It is very important because it affects everybody, it doesn’t discriminate, domestic violence affects everyone no matter what class, what color, what age, what race, it affects everyone so it is very important. Instead of us having the issues swept under the rug, we are trying to bring out the issues more in the public.”
McSheene stated that while there will be no more activities to be held to commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the organization is attempting to reach out to women who are grieving for their loved ones to have a counseling session with them.
Interested persons can contact the Silence No More organization at 669-1983 or email at sknsilencenomore@outlook.com.