Empowering Women_6

Investigating about empowering women I found a lot of 'examples' around the world which affect physicality of women. For me it is really detesting and cruel to force women and unfortunately also children into sexual acts.
I am particularly saddened by the atrocities Haitian women often have to endure. After the earthquake in 2010, the situation for the inhabitants especially for women was inhumane and degrading. There was no security in the displacement camps. There was no food; there was no work. And now there is a rampant problem. Over months and months, it increases all forms of violence, including sexual violence. This natural disaster was for many people the trigger to a drastically way of life.

"Victims became more vulnerable due to a range of things," said Brian Concannon Jr., director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. "They lost their houses; there were no locked doors anymore. People lost family members who were a source of protection."

One women who has made it her task to fight against sexual violence currently faced by women and children is Malya Villard-Appolon. She is the co-founder of KOFAVIV in Haiti.
KOFAVIV works to confront sexual violence and exploitation in Haiti, while providing rape survivors with social and psychological support and vital health services. The group has 66 female outreach agents and 25 male security guards who work within the camps, organizing nighttime community watch groups and providing whistles and flashlights to women. All of them have been affected by gender-based violence, whether personally or through a family member or loved one.

Malya's commitment to women’s empowerment is rooted in the steps she took to convert her own pain into healing. She survived brutal rape during Haiti’s years of political violence. She met many women who shared frighteningly similar stories. But these women shared more than stories of suffering. Together, they were resilient, bold and fiercely committed to upholding women's rights. So Malya decided to set up an organization to address the medical and psychological needs of rape survivors.

Even before the quake, she says, rape was an issue in Haiti, historically underreported because of social stigma, retaliation from perpetrators and a lack of legal support. That is what led her and Marie Eramithe Delva to start KOFAVIV in 2004. Since the group's inception, it has helped more than 4,000 rape survivors find safety, psychological support and/or legal aid.