ACCORDING to scientific projections, one in three women – about one billion – will be beaten or raped in her lifetimes. Thus, on February 14, 2013, one billion people in 207 countries, including Guyanese in the Promenade Gardens, rose and danced to demand an end to violence against women and girls.This year, the call is again being repeated for women and men everywhere to “dance and demand justice”, which is the theme for this year’s event, to be held this Valentine’s Day at Parc Rayne, Rahaman’s Park at Houston, E.B.D.

At a Friday press conference, spokesperson Ms. Shahiba Radix, acting for S4 Director Imarah Radix, invited both men and women to attend the event, which is free of charge. Radix said 32 bodies had already signed up, including a number of prominent local NGOs such as Help and Shelter, Red Thread, and Food for the Poor.

Along with informing and enlightening its participants, this family-oriented event will also provide refreshments and feature a number of fun activities, such as face painting, compliments of Bravo Arts.

One Billion Rising was brought to Guyana by the S4 Foundation as part of continued efforts to end domestic violence in Guyana.

The event aims to raise awareness of, and heighten support for, an end to the scourge of domestic violence, which has claimed the lives of mostly women the world over.

Mrs Stella Ramsaroop, women’s rights advocate and women’s issues columnist for the Stabroek News, founded the Stella’s Sisterhood of Support and Service (S4) Foundation to promote the continued development of sisterhood in Guyana by connecting women who are committed to helping and supporting other women in Guyana.

The One billion website, www.onebillionrisng.com, states that One Billion Rising for Justice is a global call to women survivors of violence and those who love them to gather safely in communities outside places where they are entitled to justice –courthouses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, or simply in public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not.

It is a call to survivors to break the silence and release their stories – politically, spiritually, outrageously – through art, dances, marches, rituals, songs, spoken words, testimonies, and whatever way feels right.
Written By Michelle Gonsalves