Guyana will next week be one of the 196 countries hosting a ‘One Billion Rising’ gathering to demand an end to all forms of violence against women.
The local event, which will be staged on February 14 at the Promenade Gardens, is being organised by local non-governmental organisation the S4 Foundation, which issued an open invitation to all persons to attend “as we Strike, Dance & Rise to spread the message of zero tolerance for violence against women.”
A press release from the S4 Foundation said it is joining with V-Day, a 14-year-old global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, to host the ‘One Billion Rising’ Guyana event, which will be held from 4:30pm to 6:30 pm.
“All over the world women – and those who care about them – have been rising up to demand an end to the pervasive violence against women. In Egypt the rising was instigated by an atrocious gang rape, in Pakistan it was when a young girl was shot in the head just because she wanted an education and in Ireland it was when a woman died because she was refused a life saving abortion procedure. In Guyana, we are all too familiar with the widespread and appallingly cruel violence against women in the nation – and now it is time for Guyana to rise,” Stella Ramsaroop, Founder of the S4 Foundation, was quoted as saying in the release.
The S4 Foundation is a network of women committed to helping and supporting other women in Guyana. ‘One Billion Rising,’ the release noted, began as a call to action based on the sobering statistic that one in three women will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. Since the world’s population is about seven billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls, it added.
The S4 Foundation Facebook page said that at the solidarity event, women will also share their stories, get information on services from local women’s groups and obtain educational material that will encourage women to develop safe and happy lives that are free from violence.
For more information on the ‘One Billion Rising’ Guyana event or the S4 Foundation contact Imarah Radix at 671-1883 or by email at imarah@s4foundation.org or see the organisation’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/S4Foundation.
