IN HONOUR OF THE 14 WOMEN MASSACRED IN MONTREAL, ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE DECEMBER 6, 1989 

Throughout my career as a social worker, I have been up close and personal with many instances of woman abuse. I honour those women's stories every day as I fight for a more just world. 

When I was working in Belize with the 'Women's Department' I met a young woman, 15 years old. Coming from a family with a strong Catholic belief system, she spurned her boyfriend's advances to have sex with her. Or maybe she just didn't like him that much..it doesn't matter why. She was young and beautiful and wanted to focus on her studies so that she could be the first person in her family to complete high school. Her boyfriend became very angry at this perceived rejection and stabbed her in the back, severing her spinal chord. When I met her she lay paralyzed in her bed in her family's home, no hope of ever walking again, no hope of finishing school, no medical rehabilitation, nothing but emptiness in her beautiful eyes.

 Her sisters tried to cheer her up every day, but eventually they went on to live their busy lives, as Luisa languished. While I was there, I worked with the school to ensure that she could continue her studies at home, occupy her mind somehow as her mother shed rivers of tears every day. I read to her when I could, told her stories and asked her about her hopes and dreams, but then I too had to leave to come home to Canada. I kept in touch for a while but then the family stopped writing.

Another project I worked on was establishing a phone tree with village women....a PHONE TREE, so that women from neighbouring villages could be harbored in safe spaces to escape abuse.

I don't know what happened to Louisa or to many of the women I have worked with, but I know that violence against women and girls must stop. The patriarchy must crumble. Sisterhood rising <3 span="">