On Saturday, 19th March 2022, the Initiative for Women and Girls Right Advancement (IWOGRA) organized a cinema therapy (see a movie) to aid healing and improve the wellbeing of girls and young women from Piwoyi community at Genesis Cinema, Novare-Gateway Mall, Abuja. The activity was funded by Purposeful.
The objectives of the activity were:
- To enable participants, free their minds from the burdens they bear, support healing and growth as they get to see how movies affect them when seen with conscious awareness.
- To use the effect of imagery, plot, music, learnings, and behaviours of characters, etc., in films on their psyche for insight, inspiration, emotional release or relief, and natural change.
The movie was deliberately chosen as it is a comedy that will pass a strong message and also help the participants be relieved of their worries and burdens.
The movie titled “Mama’s Big Stick” written and directed by Okey-Zubelu Okoh was aired. The movie which is a Nigerian drama is about the incongruous mothers of a harmonious couple who decided to suspend their age long differences in other to undertake a common course of action against the couple’s (their children) wishes and happiness. The movie had a lot of funny scenes that amuses the participants, helped the participants relax and free their minds from the burdens they bear.
The imagery, plots, music, learning and behaviour of the characters in the movie inspired the participants, helped them free their minds from the burden they bear, gave them emotional relief and made them happy which supported their healing, growth and will lead to a natural change. The participants were thrilled and made statements like:
‘Thanks to IWOGRA, I really enjoyed my weekend. I learnt a lot. I came to find out that we shouldn’t keep promises that will hurt us tomorrow. We should value our body because it is very precious to us’.
‘One point I picked from the movie is to trust in God and never to take harmful substances that will hurt our body system because we might not be able to face the punishments and to always listen to our parents when they guide us right because there is a saying that what an old man sitting down can see, a young person standing can’t see’.