The Police Commissioner
“The turning point was 2004, with the new law on violence in the home. Violence against women was no longer a private matter.”
Who: Adolfina Prieto
What: Heads LIBRA, the special police unit which combats violence against women and also offers survival courses to women who have lived with a dangerous man.
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 Children's Clinic
Red Riding Hood versus the Wolf
Who: Teddy Bear Clinic
What: Offer support to children and young people who have been abused.
Family Justice Center
Police, food vouchers and child therapy in the same building.
Who: Family Justice Centre
What: Has gathered all forms of support for victims of violence in close relationships under one roof: a One Stop Shop.
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 Researcher
“It is still the woman who is given the blame. People say it’s her responsibility to hold the family together.”
Who: Natalia Lokhmatkina
What: PhD in the study of abused women in the Russian healthcare system.
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 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 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 Statisticians
“Mutilations are the worst.”
Who: Aurat Foundation
What: Create the only statistics on violence against women by reading every word of the country’s newspapers.
The Night Patrol
“I never think about tomorrow. I think about what’s happening now.”
Who: Ahmed Samy Ali and Khaled Abo-El Fadl.
What: Social workers who seek out street children.
In the front of the vehicle there are some seats and a table. On the table is a notebook. At the back of the bus there is an open space with a pile of newspapers in a corner.