Abuse victims flock to centre
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 7th March 2007
A CENTRE set up to help victims of domestic violence in Bahrain is stretched to the limit with cases of abuse, it was revealed yesterday.
Batelco Centre for Victims of Family Violence president Dr Banna Bu Zaboon told the GDN that volunteers are helping around 150 people in need of assistance.
She said that does not mean the problems of domestic violence and sexual abuse were getting worse, only that more people are prepared to come forward to seek help.
Dr Bu Zaboon said the cases range from women who have been beaten by their husbands to children who were sexually abused by their fathers, brothers or extended family members.
Abuse victims flock to centre
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 7th March 2007
A CENTRE set up to help victims of domestic violence in Bahrain is stretched to the limit with cases of abuse, it was revealed yesterday.
Batelco Centre for Victims of Family Violence president Dr Banna Bu Zaboon told the GDN that volunteers are helping around 150 people in need of assistance.
She said that does not mean the problems of domestic violence and sexual abuse were getting worse, only that more people are prepared to come forward to seek help.
Dr Bu Zaboon said the cases range from women who have been beaten by their husbands to children who were sexually abused by their fathers, brothers or extended family members.
She said the centre was sometimes getting up to 10 new cases a day on top of the existing ones they should be following up.
Dr Bu Zaboon said unless the facility receives urgent funding to bring in more workers the services it offers will start to suffer.
“We don’t have enough staff just now to deal with our cases,” she said, speaking ahead of International Women’s Day.
The day is marked globally on March 8 and this year it is held under the theme of ending violence against women and children.
“It is a huge number and beyond our centre’s capacity,” said Dr Bu Zaboon.
“Plus the free phone hotline is ringing all the time and people need advice.
“Sometimes I just cannot deal with it because I am the only full-time psychologist.
“We need help and support to employ people because we are volunteers and nobody can volunteer full-time.
“It has become very serious, the centre is getting bigger and bigger and we cannot just put it on hold because the cases are flooding in from all over the country.”
She said that awareness on domestic abuse was growing and more women in Bahrain are refusing being in a violent situation.
“In the beginning we had people coming after 15 or 20 years of marriage, now we have cases in early marriage,” said Dr Bu Zaboon.
“They come to us asking how to stop the violence and a lot of them have become more aware of the effect of violence, especially on women and children.”
She said unless people get professional help they can slip into depression and anxiety and end up hating the opposite sex.
© Gulf Daily News
