V-Day: One Billion Rising

Did you know that 1 in 3 women will experience violence in their lifetime? That means over 1 billion women will be impacted by violence. That statistic shocks me but does not surprise me.

I remember when I first visited Indonesia in 2000 and I went on a village health day trip. While were were there doing prenatal care, giving immunizations to the kids etc and a young woman was brought to us. She had wounds around her wrists and ankles. She was catatonic - awake but unresponsive to us and the world around us. We were asked to bring her back to the hospital and see if we could help her. I didn't really understand what was going on until it was explained to me. The young woman had gone to work as a house maid in neighboring Malaysia. While there she had been kept captive and abused. That was really the first time I heard about human trafficking. Since then I have become much more familiar with violence against women, whether that is human trafficking, rape, domestic abuse etc.

For the last 15 years Valentine's Day has also been called V-Day. V-Day's mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. So today, February 14th, 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, they are inviting one billion women and those who love them to walk out, DANCE, RISE UP, AND DEMAND an end to this violence. They are events happening around the world in person and throughout social media like Facebook and Twitter. You can find a lot more information here. You can also watch this YouTube video.