The half-way point

Yesterday, it suddenly struck me that we were at the half-way point of the campaign! Eight days down, eight to go. And very honestly, when people ask me, "how's it going?", I find it very hard to know how to respond. My instinct, gut, spontaneous response is to say "its going really really well". But ask me to qualify that and it gets tricky. I suppose one reason, the main one, really, is that its incredibly difficult to assess something you are in the thick of.

Ask me the same question today though and I have a ready answer. We've just returned from Queen Mary's College where twenty three students have spent the last two afternoons in a theatre workshop, facilitated by the Marappachi Trust. It was wonderful, incredible to see the enthusiasm with which they got invovled, the genuine introspection, the willingness to share. And above all, personally, what I found most satisfying was their ability to relate their workshop experiences to their daily lives.

At the end of the workshop, as always, we asked for feedback. This is often an iffy exercise - often, participants feel obligated to tell us how wonderful it was. But not this time. Well, they did say how wonderful it was:) But more importantly, they shared with us stories from their lives, told us about their relationships with their families, and spelled out how they intended to tackle some of the more problematic ones.

No magic solutions. But a wonderful wonderful two days, and an inkling that somewhere, doors are beginning to open (forgive the cliche!).

Is gender violence ever justified? TN women seem to think so!

A news report this morning highlighted findings from a study on attitudes to domestic violence. More women than men in Tamil Nadu thought it was acceptable for men to beat their wives.

Crossposted from The PSW Weblog:
http://keepingcount.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/why-we-campaign-against-gender-violence/