Activism Blog

1.      Activism: For my service learning project I decided to work with Mentors in Violence Prevention. This organization is concerned with domestic violence against women in society. MVP raises awareness to people about this major issue and teaches them different ways in which domestic violence can be prevented. Before doing any type of work with the organization, I had to attend an hour and a half training with the director, Abigail Malick.  A few other girls were there as well and throughout the training we discussed domestic violence statistics and some of our own opinions and views on this issue. After that, we have met a few more times and maintained contact through email to decide what ways we can work together here on campus. We decided to do tablings in front of the Student Union every Wednesday from 10-2 to raise awareness to other students. We are also currently planning on doing another tabling at Late Knights and working with Harbor House to host a drive for the benefit of victims of domestic violence. This will include clothes and any other supplies that would be helpful to these women. There will also be an event on Saturday at Downtown Orlando that I plan to attend as part of MVP.

2.      Reflection: Working with MVP has made me realize how severe domestic violence is in our society. This issue is often overlooked and it shouldn’t be that way. As a woman myself, this concerns me very much because I wouldn’t want to be in that position or see any other female going through that kind of struggle and abuse. This relates to the topic of “Making a Home, Making a Living” in our book which talks about women performing productive and unproductive work because lots of women in a domestic violence relationship are often victims in their own workplace. Just recently, there were 11 cases in Orlando in which the abusive partner went to the woman’s job and did a shooting. This is extremely dangerous because it also creates unsafe environments for other people that are not directly involved. As a result, other employees died that had no fault or had no idea about the issue. In addition, lots of women lose their jobs because their controlling partners are constantly calling or appearing. This makes them feel nervous all the time knowing there’s not really a safe place leading to poor job performance and eventually get fired by their employers. Therefore, domestic violence not only occurs in the personal home space but it can happen anywhere. In an act of violence, the partner is not concerned with anything but hurting the woman and this can hurt others too.

3.      Reciprocity: Since I still haven’t done any work with MVP, only planning, I haven’t gained a lot. So far I have improved my skills at planning events and being more outgoing, for example, meeting new people and talking to them about places and dates to host our events. I know at the end of the semester I’ll gain personal satisfaction knowing I volunteered for a good organization and I helped women victims of domestic violence.

Kirk, Gwyn , and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Making a Home, Making a Living. 5th ed. New York, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 207-210. Print.