SEIVE

I have set up an organisation that prevents violence, especially against women,by an unusual method.It is based on the thesis that violence is a behavior learnt in the earliest years of childhood.My organisation works to prevent exposure of children to violence. Men (the greater majority of perpetrators of domestic violence), enter behavioral change programs that involve counselling and working in groups to counteract domeestic violence in their communities.

A quiet meditative open air environment with soft music in the background; a place where people live in peace and help one another cope with life's challenges.

I strongly look to a world in which the endless cycle of violence begetting violence has been broken.A generation that has never learnt, never been exposed to violence.A world in which it is criminal to expose children and youth to any form of violence;a place where no one has the guts to declare civil war;where parents never fight in the presence of children; a world free from torture and brutality.I wish to see the use of violence to end violence removed from humanity. The end of capital punishment and gender based discrimination.

In 2005 the Mifumi project,a women's human rights organisation based in Eastern Uganda, comissioned a research on the question why perpetrators of domestic violence continued to be violent even after serving stiff prison sentences and paying heavy fines.research findings indicated that men who became wife batterers had suffered or been exposed to similar violence in their childhood. I set up an organization,SEIVE (Socio-Economic Interface for Violence Elimination to help change perpetrators of domestic violence. By the end of 2007 SEIVE was an officially registed CSO and today hundreds of couples seek her help in conflict resolution not only for married couples but also other categories of people and individuals. We have grown to run a counselling center in which programs of behavior change are highly demanded. Our clientele includes Men. women. children and youth. We look to a time when violence will be a subject studied in schools and institutions and work towards a world that is aware of the roots, causes and effects of violent behavior;a world that violent people and systems would have much reason to fear. My fellowship in Ashoka is now making it possible for SEIVE to build its capacity towards global impact.We have hope that one day it will be criminal for anyone to act violently in a manner that exposes the next generation to violence.Women and children will have reliable protection against domestic violence in the privacy of their homes.Prisoners will be safe in detention.The use of corporal punishment in schools will be a past relic.The viscious cycle of violence will be ended and the threat of nuclear weapons destroyed. In Rochester Minnesota I had much interaction with chemically dependant people at the Guesthouse and came to reconsider the roots of much anti-social behavior. Many clients had totally changed by the time they left the Guesthouse. Similarly many of our chronic offenders never re-offend when they complete our programs. In fact they become activists working against domestic violence with a new appreciation and attitude.