The campus student support manager, Mr. Tekana, shared with us the difficulty he experiences getting male students to attend as they were generally not interested in any of the programmes offered by the college.

The dynamic with an all-male audience was noticeably different from the other college sessions that the team had run. There was greater openness and frankness and the type of issues discussed went deeper to the core of masculinity.

Common issues that were raised:

• What makes a man a real man.
• The impact of fatherlessness on boys.
• The role of men in society.
• What men can do in the fight against women abuse.

When asked who had active father figures in their lives, less than 10 raised their hands out of a group of 300!  There was a lot of emotion when the facilitator said to them that it is not their fault that they did not have fathers, but it will be their fault if they do not learn from their fathers’ shortcomings.

One student commented with agreement from others that had it not been for the #NoExcuse workshop, they would have never been able to confront the challenge of woman abuse because it is such a norm in the community. After the workshop, the college asked us to please come again, expressing concern about the way men are being raised in the community. They feel that this campaign is one of very few that can lead to positive change in the community.