“Violence is not masculinity. It is not strength. It is not tradition. Violence is a disease. And like any disease, if it is not addressed, it does not heal but gets worse.”

This is the belief of Eduart Hoxha, a preacher and leader of the Church of Christ in Vlora for nearly 20 years. For a long time, he has been a strong voice in his community and beyond, through social media, against a phenomenon that knows no faith, nationality, or gender but affects everyone.

The damage of a raised hand in the family does not stay within four walls. It spreads through society like an infection. “A raised hand in the family means 10 more arguments at work, 10 wounded souls at school,” says Eduart. Often, the violence is hidden, but its consequences are visible everywhere.

What makes Eduart's voice special is his approach. Based on the perspective of faith, he explains that violence lowers our potential as human beings. “When we exercise violence, we are violating creation,” he says. He uses the metaphor of the creation ladder, from stone to flower, to dog, to human, to explain how relationships are what give life meaning. "Love is the greatest commandment in the Bible and relationships are what give our lives meaning. Violence is what lowers the potential of our being, which God created us to be."

For Eduart, faith is not just a theory, but a practical solution. He recounts a personal case when a desperate mother called him because her 14-year-old son, who had mental health issues, was threatening her with a knife. After she refused to follow Eduart's first advice to call the police, the mother asked for help to resolve it differently. Faced with this situation that required immediate intervention, and knowing the minor's passion for football, he managed to convince the boy to throw the knife in the trash in exchange for a new pair of football shoes. "He liked this offer, he threw the knife away and a tragedy was stopped,” he states.

The role of religious communities in Vlora has been decisive in the education and prevention of violence in some cases. For the first time, leaders of all religious communities—Muslims, Bektashi, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants—united in a single voice to condemn gender-based violence and signed a memorandum of understanding. This was achieved with the mediation and support of UNFPA Albania in collaboration with the implementing partner, the Albanian Centre for Population and Development and other partners in the framework of the ‘Ending Violence Against Women in Albania' Project, funded by the Government of Sweden. They agreed to cooperate with state institutions and non-governmental organizations to refer cases of violence, as sometimes faith can enter where the law, doctor, or police cannot.

For Eduart, the training he received from UNFPA gave him and his community a more complete overview of the problem, seeing violence not only from a faith perspective but also from a professional, legal, and medical one. This specialized help, added to spiritual assistance, helps them better manage cases and serve survivors in a more complete way.

As Eduart emphasizes, “violence is like the effect of a cracked glass; if it is not addressed, it spreads.” His final message is a call to action for everyone: “Violence is a disease. A disease, if not addressed, will get worse instead of better. So all together, let us not remain silent against violence, but do something.”

Originally published at albania.unfpa.org