An emerging women and children rights campaigner, Theresa Gbalee Seka is calling on men and the Church in particular to be in the vanguard of propagating messages of Gender Equality in Liberia.
Ms. Seka said the Holy Bible informs us that when God created man; He God realized that man needed helper. From the judgement of God, He made woman from the ribs of man so that both of them can work together and build a loving and justice society.
The church she emphases, has a major role to play in society that includes but not limited to Witness to God’s love and power, Work toward the welfare of all members of society and above all; call society to peace, justice and compassion.
There will never be peace and justice in society when some group of people like women; children and those with disabilities are discriminated and abused daily, she, mourns.
Ms. Seka made these statements when she spoke to the weekly story telling forum of the Advocacy Lens in Monrovia, Liberia as one of the guests to tell their story.
During her time with the advocacy lens, she indicated that she was born 1980 in a rural part of Grand Geded now known as River Gee county nine years prior to the civil crisis. She informed that the 14 year civil crisis was a terrible experience—people died like her father because hospitals were closed owing to the fact that nurses and doctors were also running to safety.
A family of seven, Theresa and her siblings grow up without a father in the midst of a civil crisis that was strange to many Liberians. My mother was a Subsistence farmer, a farmer work that couldn’t sustain a family of eight, adding, in the center of the difficulties, I was encouraged by a female teacher who was campaigning for girls’ education to enroll in school.
That was how I enrolled in the only school that was operational by some teachers within the community 1996. Ms. Seka told the advocacy lens that one of the causes of teenage pregnancy in our society over the years and still on the increase is the lack of sustained support in families. The root cause she pointed out is that in most families, men are the only bread winners while women sit homes without income.
This is why she said she is encouraging men and the church to get involve with messages of gender equality and fair place in society for the empowerment of a new generation that will embrace a sustain completion between men and women to reduce poverty and discrimination in Liberia.
I became one of the victims of teenage pregnant in 1998 that gave birth successfully in my region. After the birth of my daughter; I returned to School and completed high school in 2002/2003 school year. In 2009; I got married. My husband was one of the men that believed woman can’t be a helpmate if she has no education. He therefore stood with me and I enrolled at the University of Liberia, a State own university.
It was quite difficult being a married woman; student and working at the same time. However, with God’s grace and my caring husband, I graduated university 2015.
Life has challenges and mysteries that everyone has to encounter along the way. My life mystery started when my mother got sick and died 2017. I traveled to River Gee County for the burial of my mother and after I returned to Monrovia the same month, I was down size, or lay off.
In the process of seeking a new job, my husband felt off, rushed him to the redemption hospital and he died March 31, 2018.
I would have become a widow that is either homeless; without a job if my late husband didn’t stand with me to go to college. With my story, I have decided to lead a campaign in churches, communities and schools to talk about gender equality in Liberia.
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