TANZANIA: Musoma Diocese committed to Reduce Sexual Violence
The Bishop of Musoma Catholic Diocese Rev. Michael Msonganzila has promised to fight sexual violence that is causing children to drop out of school.
Bishop Msonganzila made this promise in the presence Mama Graca Machel, widow of the late South Africa’s president, Nelson Mandela, during a session to receive results of a research on the rates of school dropout. The session was held at the Regional Commissioner of Mara. The project is being implemented by the Mama Graca Machel Trust (GMT) and the Government.
He said that apart from challenges of sexual violence, female children are also affected by poverty and disease among others. He also noted that the Catholic Church in the region has not given up on evangelization and that the issue of sexual violence gives it more courage to continue evangelizing the Mara region.
The Bishop emphasized that education is the engine of development, through education that the daughter of a farmer can be a doctor and the sons of a farmer can become President. He said that if these children who are out of the school system were to get an education they could grow to be useful members of society.
Speaking after receiving the research results, Graca Machel commended the Catholic Church who designed a good system involving religious institutions and social and anchored in the community directly to help implement of the project. She noted that the Catholic Church has played a pivotal role in protecting girls from early marriages and early pregnancies.
Graca Machel said that the Catholic Church has a Sample good role model to other communities, especially in combating the whole issue of impunity especially for girls who are reckoned missing education opportunities due to early pregnancies and early marriages.
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