Meg Rickards walked 26kms from Cape Town
City Hall, along Main Road to Muizenberg Beach dressed as an abused woman. Why?
You may ask, to commemorate Woman’s Day, to raise awareness of woman and child
abuse and to raise funding for their movie ‘Whiplash’ which will start filming
next year.
She explained in her interview with
News24’s Jerusha Sukhdeo-Raath, how she feels abuse is swept under the rug and
woman who are abused feel dirty, even though they are not in the wrong. One of
the aims of filming ‘Whiplash’, a book by Tracy Farren about a woman who’s life
is turn upside down when the unexpected happens, is to put the topic of abuse
out in the open and get people talking about it.
Meg went on to state the following
statistics; there are an estimated 1.2million rapes a year, 3600 per day and 1
in every 3 woman are abused. As she walked through the streets Meg was amazed
at the reaction she got from passers by, some even stopping to tell their
personal and traumatic stories. This shows that people will not stand back, but
ask you if you are ok and open up when faced head on with the reality of the
situation.
I was touched by this amazing step Meg took
to raise awareness, it took courage to walk the streets and speak out for those
who are too scared to or find it to hard. I want to thank Meg for standing up
for a reality that needs to change.
So I ask again, what would you do to raise
awareness for a cause you feel so deeply and passionately about?
Source: News24
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Claire has a BA Hons Degree in Photography and Journalism, is passionate about writing, food, equal rights and all things African.
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