“We must not hide the girls who live on the street away. They have nothing to be ashamed of and they have rights. They are true survivors, who deserve our respect.”
Abla El Badry, Doctor of Sociology, Cairo, Egypt

The Imam

“Sexual response is important. Mutual pleasure is good for the marriage.”


Who:
Hassanein Abdelhakam
What: Religious leader who has changed his opinion and is now oppose to genital mutilation.


The Lawyer

“Sometimes I sit in the courtroom and hold her hand, or stroke her back. I don’t want her to feel she is alone.”


Who:
Susanne Croné-Morell
What:
Is the victim’s own lawyer – the plaintiff’s lawyer.  


The Home For Young Mothers

“When the girls begin to think about the future, about what they will do when they leave here, then we can stop worrying.”


Who:
Abrigo Rainha Silvia
What:
Offers protection to young women who are pregnant and victims of violence.


The Male Activists

“Sadly, we men have learned that we are worth more than women.


Who:
Antonio Agraz
What: Works in a men’s network for equality.


The Inspiration For A Law

The number of cases reported to the police is growing by the day.”


Who:
Maria Da Penha
What:
Brazil’s new law on violence against women bears her name. She herself runs an institute to spread information about the law.


The Project for Equality

“Damaging women is like killing the roots of the tree.”  


Who:
Mathilde Muhindo
What:
Former parliamentarian who runs a project to promote equality in villages in South Kivu.


The Doctors

“No-one really knows how to circumcise a woman.”


Who:
Magda Adly and Joseph Kamel.
What: Magda works with rehabilitation of victims of torture and violence in the home, and Joseph is a local doctor.  


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 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.


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.  


The Radio Presenter

“The media are hugely important because what we don’t show doesn’t exist.” 


Who:
Martha Gomez
What: Journalist who for the last seven years has been broadcasting Tolerancia Cero (“Zero Tolerance”) a radio programme about violence against women.