The Veteran
“I said I had two other options: I could become a beggar or a prostitute.”
Who: Ana Maria Perez del Campo
What: Started a women’s shelter where the women stay for eighteen months. So far no-one has returned to her violent husband after her stay.
The Pioneers
“As far as the politicians are concerned, it’s a reality that doesn’t exist.”
Who: Casa Amiga
What: Centre for support and advice for women who have been subjected to violence.
She was a retired accountant who settled in Juarez where, in 1993, she began to notice the many reports in the local paper of young girls who had been found murdered and raped. Why was this spate of murders not attracting any attention?
The Course Leader
“I can’t un-do what happened to Maggie, but I can decide what I’m going to do with my life. The same is true of everyone who takes my courses.”
Who: Susan Omilian
What: Works with abused women who want to thrive.
The Youth Leader
“Partner violence in Santa Marta has not disappeared, but it is no longer hidden away.”
Who: Itamar Silva
What:Runs a project to raise equality awareness in the Grupo Eco youth group in the Santa Marta favela.
The Psychologists
“When I started working I was naive, and my aim was to have families reunited.”
Who: Elena Zolotilova and Tatiana Pavlova
What: Fighting to open the city’s first women’s shelter.
The King
“I don’t want my daughter to be a ‘good girl’.”
Who: Kgosi Mabe
What: Uses his position as tribal king to work against violence against women.
The Village Activists
“You only have to look at the TV series, and how badly the women behave. It’s because they haven’t been circumcised!”
Who: BLACD (The Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development).
What: Visit the villages to talk about genital mutilation, and have radically changed the situation. These days only one in ten girls undergoes genital mutilation; previously the figure was nine in ten.
The Instructors
“We help the helpless to be able to manage on their own.”
Who: LAV (Laissez l’ Afrique Vivre)
What: Offers support and vocational training to young people - rape victims, child soldiers and street children.
Eight young women sit bent over their treadle sewing machines. They have learned how to thread the machine and pump the treadle at the right speed to sew evenly and safely. Their first task is to sew a straight seam on a piece of paper.
The Lawyers
“With armed guards for protection.”
Who: Hina Jilani and Asma Jahangir
What: As lawyers, they pursue questions relating to women’s human rights.
The Therapist
Is your family more important than you yourself?
Who: Maria Cristina D’Almeida Marques
What: Runs group therapy sessions and offers counselling to abused women.
“Someone who lives in a violent relationship loses track of time and appointments – in fact, of everything that’s going on around her,” says therapist Maria Cristina D’Almeida Marques. “A woman who is the victim of violence focuses on the man and his demands.”
The Mothers
“Why didn’t the police show me the whole of my daughter’s body, just a left foot which was sticking out?”
Who: Rosaura Montañez
What: Member of a network of mothers who have lost daughters.
Araceli disappeared on the 30th of June 1995 and was found four days later on a refuse tip on the southern outskirts of the city. She had been raped and strangled. She was 19 years old. No-one has been found guilty of her murder.