In Bougainville, though, it is a concoction of home-brewed alcohol breeding fear beneath the tropical greenery around the town of Buka, north of the Bougainville mainland, and fuelling violence against Bougainvillean women. Men are bashing up their wives, there s threats and verbal abuse when the men drink.
Women suffer in the hands of men.
Her experience kept her spirit alive against the rounds of machine-gun fire. It prompted me to help other women I d witnessed dying. Under its motto, Women Weaving Bougainville Together , they are rescuing Bougainvillean women s human rights, and restoring peace to ravaged communities. The money is not going down the drain, says Hakena. The volunteers are also trained in basic counselling to help women with emotional trauma.