Gawailing- a home away from home
To recover from the trauma of domestic violence and to provide long term shelter for the victims of the domestic violence, Gawailing- Happy Home was inaugurated today. Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck and the Indian Ambassasdor to Bhutan VP Haran inaugurated the happy home.
The Happy Home is located in Wangsisina. It has all the facilities in place such as recreational facilities, healthy and pristine calm environment for one to overcome their mental trauma. Gawailing is also home for children and youth, who are vulnerable to crime.
Addressing the gathering, Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck said happy home will open doors to the victims of domestic violence to rebuild their confidence and lives through counselling.
"This is important as they need to be treated immediately from their mental and physical and it is only then the healing process will begin. The home will also provide rehabilitation programmme for alcohol and substance abuse.
"We have witnessed too often how alcohol and substance abuse destroys not only the life but the lives of the entire family and these are our hopes that the rehabilitation will help the addicts to overcome their physical and psychological dependence on drugs and alcohol to reclaim their lives," said Her Majesty the Gyalyum.
The Indian Ambassador to Bhutan VP Haran said, RENEW’s initiative of providing shelter to the survivors is commendable. "It is a very good initiative to intermediate them into society socially, economically and emotionally which is very important to be treated as the same citizen and unless all their needs, economically and emotionally are addressed, I don’t think it is possible to get them back to the society."
The survivors at Happy Home will receive interventions like counselling, legal assistance, vocational trainings, literacy programme, and capacity building. Gawaling will also provide outreach programmes to end domestic violence.
Since the establishment of RENEW, the service has reached to almost 4,000 families especially women and children who didn’t have the option but to endure violence silently.
RENEW shifts its focus to rural communities
To empower women and girls in Bhutan, especially the victims and survivors of domestic violence, RENEW is now focusing on remote communities to provide their services.
In line with this, a high-level district meeting for the Multi-Sectorial Task Force (MSTF) and community based support system was held in Gelegphu. The Theme was "reaching out together, Empowering Communities".
During the meeting, Yeshey Dorji, the Assistant Resident Representative of the UNFPA Country Office in Bhutan urged the participants to enroll religious figures to advocate social issues in their community.
"We think they are the most effective change-makers."
Dr. Meenakshi Rai, the Outreach Director of RENEW said the meeting was initiated under the command of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Sangay Choden Wangchuck who is the founder and President of RENEW.
RENEW has been carrying out the advocacy on HIV/AIDS and other related diseases in the communities along with MSTF. And the Community Based Support System has been creating awareness on domestic and gender based violence.
"The very remote communities where it takes about three four days to walk to, are the places that we are now targeting," said Dr. Meenakshi.
The members presented the progress of their services in communities and expressed the challenges. They also discussed to ways and solutions to work together. Members from Chhukha, Dagana, Samdrup Jongkhar, Samtse, Sarpang and Tsirang attended the meeting. Similar meetings are scheduled to take place in Thimphu.
RENEW Center, Thimphu
Vision and Mission
Vision: A gender-based violence-free happy society
Mission: To better the lives of survivors of gender-based violence and reintegrate them as economically and socially productively members of the society.
RENEW firmly believes sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and domestic violence (DV) stand in the way of achieving gender equality and campaigns to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and children.
In pursuit of its vision in creating a gender-based violence-free happy society, RENEW aspires to better the lives of women by helping them gain the skills necessary to achieve their goals as socially and economically independent members of society. Through comprehensive services, RENEW is the first organization of its kind in Bhutan to provide assistance to individuals through intervention and prevention programs.
Actively promoting gender equality through every aspect of its work, RENEW is committed to identifying new methods and meaningful ways to nurture, support and empower women and children.
Webiste renew.org.bt
Profiles
Tashi Wangmo (Aum Tashi), Weaving Instructor
Aum Tashi is a Bhutanese weaving instructor, who has been teaching tailoring, weaving, and food production to disadvantaged women and girls, protected by the RENEW Organisation. Founded by Her Majesty, Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck in 2004, the organization promotes gender equality and advocates against any form of violence against women and children.
Aum Tashi has been volunteering at RENEW for the past decade, working to empower women through training and education. Aum Tashi is also deeply passionate about bringing greater awareness to Bhutanese arts and handicrafts.
Tshomo, Royal Weaver
29-year-old Tshomo has been weaving since she was nine years old, the age Bhutanese girls are taught to weave. Today, she is one of the finest artisans in the kingdom, weaving ghos and kiras, the Bhutanese traditional dress for the Royal Family. The gho is worn by men and the kira, by women. A true craftswoman, she takes a year to weave three metres of fabric that is required for the garment. No embroidery is done to create patterns externally onto the fabric as all the patterns are woven to create the design. As such, she is only able to weave an inch of fabric a day. Tshomo has woven Kitshothara kira and Shinglo gho for the Royal Wedding of His Majesty the King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, among others.
