Visit to a Domestic Violence Program

Tuesday we went to a couple places.  One of these was a domestic violence shelter.  We have seen a lot and heard a lot of things that are pretty hard to deal with since being here but this meeting was particularly difficult.  I am not even close to an expert in domestic violence in our own country but I was able to conclude that violence against women in this country is very different from that in the US, though there were some sad similarities as well.  For example, we learned of the negative impacts of a system of dowry and how this may affect domestic violence.  We also learned that violence against a women may be a matter the whole family is involved in and not only the spouse.  The leader of the organization we met with described how they work to help women experiencing violence in their homes, including women who have been victims of burning.  We spent at least a couple hours just sitting and listening to the leader of this organization describe the problems they deal with and how each were being addressed.  It is so important that organizations like this exist and impressive that faced with a problem so large, so prevalent,  they continue to operate and to help everyone that they can.   I won’t go into this further here but if anyone reading this is particularly interested I can share my notes with you; there is also a great deal of information available at this website.