Arts
You can give voice to the voiceless online
‘Someone’s Daughter’ an initiative launched by the Rotaract Club of University of the Sri Jayewardenepura (RCUSJ) in September 2019 is an online campaign to help women who have been victims of violence.
The campaign has focused on bringing together many who were victims of violence and giving them a voice and support by discussing the burning issue of gender-based violence.
“There’s a lot of injustice, violence and harassment that women are going through in developing and developed countries in the world. The most depressing thing about this is that no woman has the strength to speak up or fight against the violence as the public would always try to point a finger at the female. We, as an organization, wanted to make all women feel safe by bringing out all the issues and making the public feel comfortable discussing them,” said the Secretary of the RCUSJ, Rotaractor (Rtr) Dulani Bandula Hewa.
“All online platforms were filled with love for the past eight months. We never thought this project would go to the extent where it is now. The public got actively involved in our comments section and discussions. We have been getting articles, quotes, pictures, re-posts etc unlimitedly from the audience,” added Dulani.
With the country battling the corona virus threat, domestic violence cases rose to an unbearable extent during the time of curfew and the testimonials regarding it were immense,” Dulani noted. In collaboration with the Yeheliya Foundation, they managed to reach out to homes in crisis, to educate them about the legal options and make the women think about standing up against the violence.
Their project was divided into two phases; phase 1 ends this month, phase 2 will continue till the end of next month.
Phase 1 was to reach out to the public to get their point of view and perspective on the topic. “We reached out to people whom the public accepts and published their point of view- as we thought it would reach the general public,” said Dulani. The response was immense and the public responded sharing their thoughts and re-sharing the videos and the posts.
V. Jayasiri, Thumindu Dodantenna, Dr.Samitha Ethuldoraarachchi, Eshani Diana, Ridma Weerawardane, Lahiru Perera, Swarna Sumanasekara, Arosha S. Adikaram, Wasantha Dukgannarala, Ashcharya Peiris, Rodney Warnakula, Damitha Abeyrathne and Krishan Balaji, were among the artists and personalities who joined the campaign, contributing their point of view.
In phase 2 the RCUSJ made the youth join the campaign sharing their views. ‘For this segment we made all Rotaractors talk about their experience and their thoughts on this issue, explained Dulani.
The ‘Someone’s Daughter’ initiative also provided valuable insights by pointing out legal avenues women could utilize if they are victimized. The Yeheliya Foundation was part of the campaign in providing facts and educative knowledge-oriented data regarding violence against women. They were also supported by the online media partner of the project, NewsIn Asia.
Dulani, Chairperson of the project Chathura Madhumadhawa, Directors of the Public Relations Committee Ushan Deemanka and Chan Surendra on behalf of the executive committee, stressed the role the public has to play in combating violence against women. “Every girl or woman is someone’s daughter, sister, mother or friend. Let’s keep that in mind. All women play a vital role in someone’s life,” they added.