Women attending a counselling session at the Swahili cultural centre Mombasa. [Photo: Maxwell Ngala]
Conflicts among couples at the Coast have forced many women to seek counseling services from professional counselors in the region.
Counselors from Nairobi who have been for the last one week assisting locals in the region to overcome life challenges through counselling sessions have revealed that most women in marriages are hurting and would always seek the intervention of counsellors to help them out.
Addressing over thirty women at the Swahili Culture Institute in Mombasa on Wednesday, Millicent Ayimba from the ‘Life Matters counselling said that since the Coast region was facing various challenges among the communities, women should be trained on how to counsel their children, husbands and other people they live with.
“With the increased domestic violence, marriage break ups, love issues, drug abuse among many other social problems in the region, we need to train professional counsellors who will help their own families and the Coastal community as well,” said Ayimba.
She said that with the fight against terrorism programmes which started early in 2014, many families were affected by losing their loved ones and to restore hope they needed counselling.
She revealed that over eight women sought counselling services every day from Mombasa alone compared to Nairobi where three to four men and women seek the same services daily.
“Those women are our ambassadors, let them take charge of the insecurity aftermath in old town areas, Kisauni and Likoni by counselling young children who are involved in criminal activities” added Ayimba.
The three-day training session funded by Haki Africa, a human rights lobby in the Coast is aiming at equipping Women so that they counsel and guide their children to bar them from indulging in criminal activities and drug abuse.
On her part, Haki Africa’s Gender and children rights officer Salma Hemed said that the thirty women from Old town will carry on with counselling session to their own children and other members living in their neighbourhood with an aim of creating bonding and curb insecurity in the area.