Seifline helps abused women

ABOUT 200 physically abused women were saved from “living hell” through calls to crisis hotline Famili Seif in the past 11 months, The National reports.

National Capital District Commission’s Yumi Lukautim Mosbi (YLM) project coordinator Rabura Aiga said calls to the hotline enabled YLM and police to rescue the distressed women from the clutches of violence.

The Famili Seif line is a safety and crime prevention initiative by YLM and G4S (Protect Security) with mobile phone company Digicel providing the communications infrastructure.

Mrs Aiga said the hotline received 37,992 calls between last April and March.

“Of the total calls, 18,172 were abusive calls from men,” she told participants at a seminar organised by Soroptimtist International (SI) to mark International Women’s Day.

She said prompt responses to 240 of the calls helped the women to flee to a more secured environment.

SI PNG Chapter president Bubby Mohan said the organisation’s goal this year was to set up a Soroptimtist Haus to provide vocational training, counselling and literacy classes to abused women and girls.

A charity event titled Bollywood Night, scheduled for April 7, will be hosted with the aim of raising funds for the Haus.

British High Commissioner to PNG David Dunn noted that the large number of abusive calls from men showed that a lot of work was needed to tackle the problem.

The commission had, over the last three years, supported the Port Moresby-based Haus Ruth women refuge centre and joined the Meri Seif Ples initiative last August.