Post-Trip Service and Awareness Event

Now that we have returned from our trip we are all still trying to BREAK the SILENCE surrounding domestic violence. The day before Maryland Day some of us headed over to Mckeldin Mall to chalk, our favorite way to ignite conversation about the issue of domestic violence. We chatted with a few people and Testudo even appeared and helped us out! Amber, one of the participants who will be leading the Knoxville trip next year, recently put on an Awareness event concerning domestic violence for her class. At the end of the talk, we rolled up tiny sheets of paper with facts and help numbers concerning domestic violence and hid them in empty lipstick tubes. This is a tactic that some domestic violence help centers use to provide their clients with safe references; potential abusers often don't look inside of lipstick tubes for help resources. Keep an eye out around campus for Amber's lipstick campaign! Here are a few pictures of the awareness event and our post trip service

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Continuing to Break the Silence

This afternoon a few of us attended a social seminar focusing on the issue of domestic violence. This seminar was led by one of our own group members- Amber Ferguson. We began the event by eating some delicious food supplied from Moby Dick's.  After we ate Amber began by introducing the issue of domestic violence and encouraging the audience to be interactive. We talked about different forms of domestic/intimate partner violence including cyber stalking. We then discussed some of the myths relating to this issue and our feelings about whether or not we believed it to be true. One of the myths we discussed was the idea that alcohol/drugs cause people to become violent. I responded on this myth because although I know it is not true I do believe that it is very prevalent and is often used as a scapegoat for perpetrators. We ended the event by doing a fun activity to help spread awareness. As we have learned it is important for people to become aware and feel comfortable reaching out for help. To do this we rolled up little sheets of paper that had contact information and places that offer services to victims and stuck them inside of empty lipstick containers. Everyone who attended the event took some of the lipsticks to hand out to people on campus. This was a creative way to spread awareness and we had fun doing it! Overall, it was a fun event that brought a few of us back together to focus on the same goal: breaking the silence. Although domestic violence is a very large issue it is little steps like this that can add up to make a difference! Our trip is over but our desire to keep making a difference on this issue will be with us forever. Thank you Amber for putting on this event!