"Men need to speak about their emotions"

Changing gender norms, speaking about trauma, and getting rid of toxic generational norms is what men need. This was echoed at the launch of the Callas Foundations Men’s Engagement Programme.

About 80 people attended the launch of the programme at the Bridgetown Community Centre on Wednesday May 28, under the theme "Reclaiming brotherhood: A journey of healing, connection, and growth.”

This will be a weekly programme held on a Thursday afternoon at the Bridgetown Community Centre, for all men. The sessions will include weekly interactive group discussions, personal storytelling, wellness activities, and skills-building workshops, offering tools to help men model healthy masculinity, emotional resilience, and mutual respect.

This comes after the launch of their Building Bonding Beyond (BBB) Programme for boys, last year.

The new programme  focuses specifically on adult men and deepens the Foundation’s commitment to addressing the root causes of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) through inclusive, healing-centered interventions that begin within communities themselves, said founder of the Callas Foundation, Caroline Peters.

She said that the programme provided a space for men to reflect on identity, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and their roles in building safer, more just communities. Rather than blame or correction, the programme centres growth, dignity, and solidarity.

“This is not a space to correct men, it’s a space to welcome them. We’ve seen firsthand through our BBB programme the transformative power of honest conversation and mentorship. This programme brings those same principles into the lives of men, fathers, partners, community members, who want to be part of the solution," she said.

The programme speaks to men who are ready to listen, learn, heal, and lead. Participants will include fathers, mentors, faith leaders, educators, local champions, and civil society partners who are committed to becoming positive forces in their families and communities.

Ms Peters said that men grow up with the idea of not showing emotions and never to cry. This programme was a way for them to learn how to speak about their trauma, challenge harmful gender norms and learn new ways to connect. 

"Working the sector made me realise that we won't achieve anything if we don't get men into the fold. The quickest and simplest way was to launch the boys programme and the idea was to launch the men's programme a year later, she said, adding that fifteen months later they have achieved it.

"Men can be more than what society taught them to be. We want to change the harmful norms and toxic masculinity," she said.

The programme she said, was born out of years of listening to our communities - especially women and children - who have been carrying the heavy weight of gender-based violence, often in silence.

"But we have also been listening to men. Men who have said, 'I want to change, but I don’t know how.' Men who are tired of pretending. Men who have been taught to suppress, to dominate, to survive - without ever being taught how to feel, to heal, or to grow. We know the statistics. We see the harm. But behind every number is a story, and often, it is a story of a man who was never given the tools to be anything different than what was modelled for him," she said. 

The programme offered a new path. One where men are not shamed, but invited to reflect, not labelled as the problem, but challenged to be part of the solution. She said that the work is being done on the Cape Flats, because that is where it mattered most, where the pain is deep, but the potential was greater. Where fatherlessness, violence, and hardship are real, but so too is resilience, brotherhood, and transformation.

"Today, we mark a shift. We say no more silence among men, there is strength in softness, and power in accountability. We will not wait for the next generation to change, we begin with ourselves. Let this be the beginning of a movement. Not just a programme, but a promise that we will walk with our men, not to punish them, but to prepare them to lead, to love, to live differently. Thank you for being here. Thank you for believing that men can heal, that men can rise, and that together, we can end gender-based violence, not someday, but in our lifetime," she said. 

For more information call the Callas Foundation on  071 135 7175.