Artistes’ songs lead to movie against domestic violence

To shed more light and raise awareness on the issue and also educate victims on solutions available to them, a movie, ‘New Morning,’ was born from the artistes’ work. The project championed by German foundation, Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) and implemented by DLI Tuesday Nigeria Limited, was launched to build women’s self-confidence, discourage men from […]

To shed more light and raise awareness on the issue and also educate victims on solutions available to them, a movie, ‘New Morning,’ was born from the artistes’ work. The project championed by German foundation, Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) and implemented by DLI Tuesday Nigeria Limited, was launched to build women’s self-confidence, discourage men from gender-based violence, and to make society take notice and speak up instead of looking away.
Four artistes- eLDee, MI, Waje and Omawumi- volunteered their services to the cause and attended a workshop with HBS, survivors of violence, lawyers who deal with gender-based violence and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that help survivors. This helped them understand the legal and emotional issues involved to enable them connect with the theme of the album.
The movie screening was the first step to getting the word out on VAW and help available for them.  “We just wanted to get the reaction and feel around the movie and to know if the movie achieves what we aim for it to achieve,” said Azeerah Mohammed, HBS Gender Officer.
Director of the movie, Deji Arosho, said he hoped that the work had helped to further the cause of bringing VAW to an end.
Christine K, HBS director in Nigeria, said from the songs produced it was clear that the artistes were immensely impacted by the stories they heard from the victims.
“I would like for the message to be spread as far and as wide which is why they are available online and other platforms, absolutely free,” Christine said.
“HBS would like to thank the artistes, their management team, and the crew at DLI Tuesday for their time, effort and their willingness to volunteer their voices for such a worthy cause,” she added.