Changing the world one woman at a time
DEBI Steven was raped twice before she turned 10.
In both instances the men were known to members of the community where she lived in Port Elizabeth.
“I kept quiet for a very, very long time. I didn't tell anyone I had been raped until I was in my late 20s. And I guess that's why prevention is so important and community is so important.”
Steven says these crimes had a profound impact on her life and she even went on to obtain her 7th Dan black belt in karate.
However, given her experiences and South Africa’s high rate of gender-based violence, she felt compelled to do something so that women never have to live in fear. So far 65 000 women have benefited from her drive to ensure that they can defend themselves mentally and physically by knowing their worth.
“To create a world where South African women can live their day-to-day lives without being constantly scared of male violence,” said Steven.
She says more than empowering women, she wanted to understand the psychology behind these acts.
“To try and dig really deep and work out what the root cause of violence against women is, and the root cause is gender inequity.”
And so, Action Breaks Silence was born with a footprint in three countries, the UK, India and South Africa.
“They are three 100% independent charities. The thing that strings them together is the empowerment through self-defence workshop that we're delivering here in communities in South Africa.”
The workshop is being delivered in India and the UK.
“The charities are separate, in charge of their own finances with their own governing boards, their own governing bodies,” said Steven.
This week Steven was in Durban as part of a women's month campaign in which Action Breaks Silence paired up with the Vukile Property Fund for a series of empowerment sessions in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Through workshops at malls in the Vukile Property Fund stable, 900 women will be “empowered and taken on a transformative journey of self-discovery” which includes self-defence techniques.
Marijke Coetzee heads up the Corporate Social Investment Initiatives for Vukile Property Fund and says initially Action Breaks Silence conducted a corporate workshop for them.
“I think my eyes just opened that day in terms of how deeply rooted that problem is of violence against women. You know, it's not just a self-defence issue, it's about our own environments. It's about understanding our worth as women, it's about having personal boundaries.”
Coetzee says after this workshop she knew this was something they wanted to introduce to the broader community. “And that's how the partnership was born in the beginning of this year where we said, let's take it broader and actually do a roadshow and go through all the different malls in South Africa and offer this to the ladies.”
Apart from doing her best to change the world for women, Steven has also shown them that you are never too old to take on a new challenge.
In 2019 at the age of 47 she went to university for the first time for a postgraduate qualification without an undergraduate degree. ”I did a Master's degree in London in women and child abuse, and really spent three years looking at interventions, violence against women and girls prevention, looking at international interventions that were really starting to show some success in reducing violence against women and girls.”