Huh! I’m finding out that my body does not recover from travel as it used to. The road trip over the weekend covered around 950km in total. Enough distance to get me to get me to Cape Town, I think. And it was all done on one day (Sunday).
So, for the past couple of days, I've been feeling rather sluggish. I'm going to have to be kinder to my body next time - travel shorter distances, take more rest stops. Anyhoo, I have a few things I want to highlight today.
I've joined Place For People
I've joined the team of PlaceforPeople, an Internet start-up which offers a web advocacy platform which non-profits and civic leaders can use to promote their cause and promote leadership and collective action for a specific cause. The company' head office is in Nice, France, and they have a branch office in Chicago in the US.
My job, as a grassroots team member is to interview NGO leaders and elected officials and leaders of civic associations in Johannesburg. The interviews will be published on the platform. Sound like the kind of project that fits with the campaign work I already do, no? So. If you're a head of a non-profit, or an elected official, or know someone who you think fits my criteria, email me? I'm kind like offering you free publicity:-)
We're going to have a blog party
I'm busy making preparations for the online leg of the 16 Days of Activim Against Gender Violence for clients I work with, and their partners. The annual campaign runs from the 25 November - 10 December and during this period, I would like to ask you to blog about violence against women and what we, as individuals, can do to stop/prevent it. Talk about what you can do, what impact you can have a a blogger/photographer/writer/mother, sister/friend/man/woman/brother/health professional/housewife or whatever role you can think of. Talk about why we shouldn't just stand by and "not interfere in people's private business" when someone is being abused. You can also just share your own story.
Email me a link to your post, and I'll highlight it on the following web sites as part of the blog party:
1. Shukumisa
2. OneLove
3. Kwanda
4. Tshwaranang Women's Legal Advocacy Centre
5. WomensNet
6. GirlsNet
Links to your posts will also be published on Facebook pages of Shukumisa and the Imagine A World Without Violence Against Women & Girls group.
If you don't have a blog, I'm happy to publish your guest-post on the Shukumisa web site. I'm would also like to do guest posts for those bloggers who occassionally use guest-bloggers. Please let me know what you'd like me to talk about, and I'll send the post to you ASAP, so you can schedule it.
8 comments:
Damaria, I know what you mean about not travelling so well - have been away too, and back home since Monday, Still feeling as if my head is in Pilansberg although my body is home!
Good luck with your new project "place for people"!
Re your blog party - I've been privileged enough to know only decent kind men. Let me think about whether I can contribute something meaningful. What's your final deadline for blog post submissions if the bogparty runs from 25/11 to 10/12? And what's required length (or have I missed that detail with my befuddled brain?)
Judy
Hi Judy
I don't have a required length for the blog post. It can be as long or short a your stor demands.
Tell us about the good men in your life. This campaign is not just about abusive men; it's also about celebrating good men, who are, in their own way, contributing to the campaign through their action, though they wouldn't even know it and they would not even classify their actions as anything other than normal.
Deadline: it would be ideal if i got most of my links by the 23rd November, so I can schedule them on the various sites.
Damaria! Travelling 950km in one day is hectic! That is just too much for anyone, even He-man. No wonder you are exhausted. You poor thing.
I will have to do some thinking about your party topic!
Hi Damaria, I'd like to contribute a-post-a-day ie, 16 (short) daily posts for the duration of the activism period - preferably as guest blogger. Would that work?
Oh hey Moi
Thanks for coming over and offering to guest-blog. Yes, please, it would work. Would you like the posts to be published on Shukumisa web site ( which is the main blog about sexual violence that I work on) or Storypot? I'm flexible either way.....and I'm asking because I know you're a writer and am trying to determine which primary platform would work best for your posts.
I'll email you, Damaria, to chat strategy. Main thing, I guess, is to get the campaign out there since we only got 16/365.
Best would be to have bits on different spaces all over the 'net so that, like with dog turds on the lawn, people can't avoid stepping in and having to look close at least one stinking pile of facts ;->
Hi Damaria,
Out of interest, if i wrote a piece on the violence against lesbian woman... would it count or be included in your blog party? It's just something I have been thinking about doing because i met someone who has been through it and I don't know whether it counts more for homosexual violence or just plain gender violence?
Peace,
Paula
@Paula - of course it would count. Consider that the victim has many roles - yes, she's gay. But she's also a woman, and we can't exclude her issues when we talk about gender violence because she's not heterosexual. That too, would be discriminaion.
So please, write the post and send me the link.
P.S. From my client point of view, really the coalition is made up of various groups that deal with violence, be it sexual violence against children(Kidz Clinics, RAPCAN), Domestic Violence (Tshwaranang), sex worker rights (SWEAT) etc. So your post is bound to ring a very loud bell with one of the partners.
Thanks.
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