Raahat: Healing Women Yale University Maheen Zakaria, Pakistan, Yale University

The aim of Raahat was to spread awareness about the issue of domestic violence, and to bridge the gap between victims of abuse and the resources available to them via:  Workshops for women of low socioeconomic status,  A website that would cater to abuse victims and witnesses from every stratum of Pakistani society, and  A play on violence against women in low-income areas. The project was supported by the Davis Projects for Peace Fellowship, the John E. Linck & Alanne Headland Linck Fellowship and a Pakistani multinational corporation, Engro Foods.

Before executing the project, I spent three weeks out in the field. This entailed meeting with professionals in the government and NGO sectors who had worked on similar development projects, and visiting low-income areas in to understand my project’s audience. This was a valuable decision as it allowed me to fill the gaps in my knowledge on the issue of domestic violence in Pakistan, become more informed about the progress that had already been made, and assess which areas had been overlooked so that I could tailor Raahat to address these unmet needs. My project evolved considerably during this time. I discovered a helpline that was launched by the Government of Pakistan in 2015, which served the same purpose as the helpline I had originally proposed for Raahat. Hence, I removed that from the project plan, and instead shifted my focus toward educating women about this available service and how they could best make use of it. I was also planning to conduct awareness sessions in schools on child sexual abuse, but the issue of consent proved to be a huge impediment. Furthermore, obtaining clearance from the State to conduct these sessions was impossible, as I was not sufficiently trained. As a result, the school visits had to be put on the side as well. After multiple sessions with consultants, psychologists and social scientists, I restructured my project, deciding to focus on domestic violence alone and primarily targeting women from low-income areas, who are disproportionately affected by this epidemic. All of the funds previously allocated to the helpline and school sessions were redirected towards the workshops, and community theatre performances included in the project in order to engage both men and women. To successfully implement the revised project plan, I had to work with a new set of international and local NGOs. The organizations that made Raahat possible are: Aware Girls, Chanan Development Association (CDA), Chayn Pakistan, National Organization for Working (NOW) Communities, Aurat Foundation, Youth & Women Development Organization, CPPD Pakistan, Taskeen and Tehrik-e-Niswan. With a new plan also came a new budget. I needed to secure additional funding to run the project efficiently and hence, approached the corporate sector in Pakistan. Engro Foods agreed to sponsor the plays on violence against women and their generous support allowed me to hire a team of actors and cover the venue costs for that activity. In June, I worked with representatives from the Youth & Women Development Organization and National Organization for Working (NOW) Communities to decide which areas Raahat should be targeting. We visited five regions in Karachi; observed the cultural/religious settings and the demographics of each area, surveyed other prominent NGOs in the region, and collectively agreed upon the following places: Hijrat Colony, Khokhrapar Malir and . Hijrat Colony has many conservative families that put restrictions on women. Women in Khokhrapar Malir are uneducated like the ones in Hijrat Colony but they are more independent and often the breadwinners of the family. Malir households mostly have unemployed men who have resorted to alcoholism and often, under the influence of alcohol, abuse their partners. Lastly, Baldia Town has similar dynamics as Malir; the women there are generally the breadwinners who support their families through stitching or factory jobs. In all three regions even though domestic violence is a major problem, there is a severe lack of resources for women who have suffered from abuse. There was absolutely no possibility of women from these areas meeting each other, or getting to know about each other’s experiences. Through Raahat, I hoped to bring these women together so that they could find support and learn from one other. Prior to conducting the workshops, I spent three weeks building a rapport with the women in each of the three neighborhoods. There was one local NGO worker serving as the coordinator in each region. With the help of the coordinators, I was able to plan visits and discussion sessions on various topics in each area. During these meetings, I performed trust building activities with the women and discussed the project extensively with them. Raahat: Healing Women Pakistan Yale University Maheen Zakaria, Pakistan, Yale University

Under Aware Girls’ founder, Saba Ismail’s guidance, I designed a three-day workshop centered upon domestic violence. The schedule of the workshop was as follows:  Day 1: Human rights and gender discrimination;  Day 2: Domestic violence (definition of domestic violence, violence in the life cycle of a female, types of abuse, myths related to domestic violence, signs of violence, ways to get help, the domestic violence bill)  Day 3: Conflict management, peer education and counseling strategies. Three cycles of these workshops were conducted in July and through each workshop, Raahat empowered approximately 30 women (10 from each aforementioned region). Through these workshops, we ultimately engaged around 100 women. The women we trained through the workshop will take on the role of community support workers in their respective neighborhoods (Hijrat Colony, Khokhrapar Malir and Baldia Town) and through them, we hope to lay the foundation for a support network for women in each target area. Visits by the local team members are planned for October to see if the participants retained the material from the workshops and to inquire about the difficulties they have faced in providing relief to women in their communities. A lot of women who attended the workshops did not previously consider domestic violence to be a problem. Emotional abuse was believed to be a normal (and even healthy!) part of a relationship. And those who did recognize it as a problem and wanted to get help unfortunately did not have a safe space where they could discuss problems like these. The workshop provided them with such a space. I received a very positive feedback from the participants, most of whom expressed a need to have a space like this available in their communities on a permanent basis. In the month of August, I organized a play, Hum Aurtein, which highlighted various forms of violence against women: physical, psychological, social and sexual. Three performances were arranged in Hijrat Colony, Khokhrapar Malir and Baldia Town. These performances were free and open to the public. A discussion also followed the play, where the audience was invited to share their experiences and/or give feedback. Nothing like this had ever been organized in these low-income areas in the past, so it was amazing that we had a turn out of approximately 200 people at each performance. The third and final component of the project was the website. Since May, with the help of interns from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), I have been developing a website for Raahat, for which I have already prepared content in English, and Romanized Urdu. The material includes informative articles on domestic violence, self-help articles and personal stories of victims. The website (www.raahatpakistan.com) is still under construction and will be launched in October.

Peace to me is not simply the absence of violence, but also a state in which victims of violence are not forgotten or left behind, and are instead empowered, protected and loved. Raahat hopes to spread awareness about the issue of domestic violence so that it is not labeled as a “family matter” and swept under the rug. I want people in Pakistan to start having conversations on this topic, as discussion is the first step towards solving any problem. Raahat will contribute towards peace by making individuals more aware of the issue of violence against women, and by providing victims with the tools to empower themselves. I hope to engage men on a deeper level, while empowering women. Both of these must occur simultaneously for the status of women to improve in Pakistan. This project has made me realize how important emotional support is for victims of abuse. We need to work harder to guarantee the emotional well being of individuals, especially women, in Pakistan. I have become more conscious about signs of emotional distress and that has made me capable of connecting with others on a more personal level. Four in five women in Pakistan face some form of domestic abuse. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to provide victims of abuse a chance to share their stories, seek help and move towards emotional stability. I was also able to witness what we women are capable of achieving for others and ourselves when we come together to support each other. (Maheen Zakaria)

Raahat: Healing Women Pakistan Yale University Maheen Zakaria, Pakistan, Yale University