Over the years, there has been controversies over gender inequality, sexual harassment, female discrimination and so many other issues concerning the female folks. Ojthorpe Blog was opportune to meet with one of Africa's young female activist KRISTIE OPE, in which she was able to share with Ojthorpe Blog her ideologies and motive for creating the KRISTIE-OPE Foundation in an interview session.
YOU ARE POPULARLY
CALLED “KRISTIEOPE FEARLESS” THAT SOME HARDLY KNOW YOUR REAL NAME,WHAT’S YOUR
REAL NAME AND HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME “KRISTIEOPE’’?
My name is Erinfolami
Olajumoke, when the foundation was about to start I couldn't come up with a
nice name, I wanted something catchy and
different so I decided to coin KRISTIEOPE from my other names which is
Christiana Opeyemi.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT
YOURSELF?
I am a God chaser,
and I have passion for young ladies as I believe that they are mostly
vulnerable to various kind of abuse, and
mostly have no one to talk to but their friends, I am a student of Lagos
State University from the faculty of law 400 level.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT
‘’KRISTIOPE FOUNDATION’’?
Kristieope is a
non-governmental organization that is committed to advocacy and canvassing the
prior importance of femininity, moral uprightness and decent sexual relations,
free from harassment, intimidation and all unwholesome behavior in campuses.
Kristieope is a female gender development movement that advocates and marches
against sexual abuse, rape, prostitution and indecency in university
campuses.
From inception, the movement
trusts that the incessant harassment on girls and female lecturers who are
taken advantage of by their counterparts due to their naïve and weak nature can
be curbed. Advocacy as a strategy has
commenced; taking advantage of the social media to disseminate viable
information. Also, tools such as Counseling, Street (Campus) March, Tea Time,
Conference and Outreaches targeted at our audience at all touch points are
already deployed. The aim is to build a
total female figure and not another work of art in a man’s gallery; a female
not withdrawn or afraid to relate with the male gender because of being noticed
or targeted for harassment. We intend to build a very decent campus community
which is sine qua non to building a decent society. KRISTIEOPE was born in the prestigious Lagos
State University, Ojo Campus and has so far through her activity connected with
the university’s other campuses-LASUCOM and Epe Campus. The movement also has
registered her presence with the University of Lagos and University of Nigeria
Nsukka.
THE FUTURE PLAN FOR
KRISTIEOPE FOUNDATION?
Kristieope is a big
foundation and by God's grace it's going global, We are starting with educational systems
first and we would be taking it to a higher level but we wont leave our ladies
out of it. The foundation is for them and any growth that the foundation is
going to experience will always be for them.
YOU JUST HAD A
CONFERENCE LAST MONTH, WHAT INSPIRED THE IDEA OF THE FEARLESS CONFERENCE AND
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?
There are real life
issues that informed the decision to flag the sacrosanct conference,FEARLESS
CONFERENCE was organized to unravel the mysteries behind sexual harassment,
reach out to affected girls and offer real-life-solutions to victims. The
essence of the conference is to sanitize the campus, put a check on lecturers
and give girls the courage to pursue their academic goals without fear.
The conference also addressed within the
campus cycle, the activities of bad boys and cultists against our girls. This
is even more dangerous as the affected girls are either shy to speak out
because they can’t find a confidante or an established platform or institution
that is ready to listen and act.
Meanwhile, as we focus on happenings on campus, the conference did not
leave out girls who have to deal with issues from the home front.
We spread our
tentacles to relating with parents, We strongly
believe that an experience of sexual harassment is capable of leaving a soul in
the dungeon of self-hate, and robs such soul the capacity to get up and reach
for life. For some of these young ladies, they have lost the definition of
life; they just exist, but do not live.
Some have resorted to the life of “red
color rooms”; yet some do not share the value of a meaningful life. For
majority, they have settled permanently for mediocrity.
Every day, the media hauls at us news and
ordeals of how an eighty year old man violated a seven year old infant, or how
a lecturer in one university incessantly demands sexual exchange for grades, the worse are untold; they are not open to media eye.
These attacks are
particularly targeted at weak and vulnerable girls who often are left to face
the peril of trauma and the challenge of living up. We may not be able to
change where we are coming from, but we might be able to determine where we are
going. We cannot completely erase the hurts of the past but we can shape the
future of the innocents and create a platform to safeguard them. This is the
time to give the right information to our young girls. It is a time to
encourage and mend the broken, a time to give hope to the traumatized and help
them believe again.
AS A YOUNG FEMALE
ACTIVIST, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE AND HOW DO YOU MANAGE IT?
I can remember when I
had my first walk, a lot of people that I have never seen before came to me and
threatened me. Some said I should stop what am doing and some said they will
get back at me, but I was not moved rather I was happy because it means I have
become a terror to them. I also know strongly that I have God's backing so I
decided not to be moved.
Also I have heard a lot of defaming names and title
some ladies have given me, Some said I am just looking for cheap sympathy,some
said I am looking for fame and seeking attention but I will always take
criticism serious but not personal, I should be happy that people are getting
to know that there is a foundation that cares for ladies, irrespective of what
they say all that matters to me is that broken hearts are mended and ladies
that needs counseling gets it and they are healed of their past.
IF A LADY WHO WAS
HARRASED SHOULD WALK UP TO YOU RIGHT NOW AND ASK ON WHAT SHE CAN DO ABOUT IT
,WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVICE TO HER?
The first thing I
will do is to ask two questions which is one what happened and two are you
ready to forgive, the reasons for this questions is to know how the victim is
reacting to the abuse and I can only know when I ask her what happened.
The
second reason is to help the person heal and move on with her life. Forgiveness is key and without
it, it's difficult to get rid of the trauma. There are different stories of
abuse and there are different approach to getting it solved.
DO YOU HAVE ANY WORD
OF ADVISE FOR LADIES GOING THROUGH ONE FORM OF HARASSMENT THAT CAN’T SPEAK OUT?
I would say that
living in fear is like living below standard and also living in the dark, the courage you need can only be built by you
the best any other person could do is to encourage you.
You do not need to keep
living in the hurt of the past, you need to put off those heavy loads and
thought, always remember our should be a type of fear and not a prey to fear.
My mentor pastor Mavis gave an illustration he said when a lion and deer meets
the deer sees fear the lion sees food, it doesn't matter if the animal is long
like a girlfriend or big like an elephant the lion does not back out of any
fight the lion is fearless and dears any animal that comes his way.
When he sees a prey he roars and the prey
trembles. Remember the question is who won't let you but who will stop you.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
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