IMMIGRANT WOMEN FACING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!

My Volunteer Badge & Program

The crowd @ the event..courtesy of my camera...lol

Even though it's blurry I like this pic

That's true!

Yep!

On a more personal but relevant note.... !!

Here's my recap of my 1rst day volunteering for the non -profit organisation

SANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES the largest New York based non profit organisation that provides shelter, counseling to women who are victims of domestic violence.

What attracted me in the first place to this organisation is that they put a serious accent on IMMIGRANT WOMEN OF VARIOUS BACKGROUNDS; hispanic, european and AFRICAN.

Sanctuary For Families pride themselves in understanding the cultural context in which its clients find themselves. They also offer clinical services to women and people in need.

The conference for which I was volunteering at the ASIA SOCIETY was called :

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS as you may guess it's about Immigrants who find themselves living between 2 worlds , almost 2 societies within the American society.

You know the deal , you come from Africa w/certain values that may not be as prominent abroad or some traditions that you have always believe you have 2 follow.

During the conference they showed a video of women who were victims of domestic abuse, among them a Guinean woman whose husband beat the hell out of her ; as a result she almost lost her children.

Thankfully to the Agency she was able to get custody of her children.. bref SANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES do what it can......

My impression of the affair, it was interesting to look at the crowd..

For the most part it was a Caucasian crowd..maybe in total 10-15 lblack people and that's even shooting high...

I believe that for the most part they work in the mon profit industry at high levels, many journalists came through..

As a matter of fact , Dan Rather (former ABC night journalist) was the coordinator. The rest of the pannel were...u guess it..women such as Taina Bien- Aime who's the Executive Director of Equality Now (black woman ...that's why I mention her)

The other interesting thing I found out looking at all these accomplished women is that for the most part, they did part of their studies locally , and went for their PHD'S & Masters throughout Europe..(that's great I think)

Anywhoo it was interesting..most of the info was repetitve ..but their point was that they needed to be some type of dialogue at a legal level concerning the immigrants who are facing domestic violence. A lot of times,those women can't complain to the police because they don't have proper legal papers in this country or because of tradional mentality which says that it's wrong for them to denounce their spouses or mates...

There needs be a proper dialogue w/those women to ensure their security..
Very Interesting, i thought...

If you want more info' on that organisation:

http://www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org/index.htm

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS JUST NOT RIGHT:(

LET'S DO THE RIGHT THING MY AFRICAN MEN:)

EYEE WAYEE:)