Two young local business professionals have set out with determination and unwavering conviction to assist sexual violence victims/survivors cope with the trauma resulting from the acts of sexual violence perpetrated against them.
Souyenne Dathorne and Velika Lawrence want to help make a difference in the lives of persons affected by sexual violence and it is not only because they themselves are victims of sexual abuse. They truly care about the plight of distressed sexual abuse victims. As they put it, this is a ‘delicate and prevalent’ issue that needs to be addressed and they have the required tools and motivation to take on this cause.
Experts define sexual abuse as any sexual act which a person is threatened, coerced or forced to engage in against their will, or any non-consensual sexual touching of a person. This includes rape (such as forced vaginal, anal or oral entry) derogatory name calling, deliberately causing unwanted physical pain during sex, preventing a victim from using contraception against their will, forced kissing, child sexual abuse or the torture of the victim in a sexual manner.
In an effort to combat this scourge, Souyenne and Velika have combined their related work fields to create PROSAF, which stands for Positive Reactions Over Secrets and Fears. The movement was officially formed in 2011 to address sexual violence in Saint Lucia. It is a non-governmental entity and a non-profit organisation.
Souyenne studied forensic psychology in the USA and wanted to see how her degree could be utilised in Saint Lucia. Forensic psychology is the merging of Psychology and the Law. It looks at aspects of the criminal mind and there is a broad spectrum of ways in which it can be used in solving criminal cases. It also looks at why the criminal may have committed a particular crime and if the individual who has been convicted and imprisoned for a criminal offence can be rehabilitated. It also addresses the counselling and the remedial side of it all.
Dazzle sat down with Souyenne and Velika as they dissected the diverse complexities and the mental and psychological effects associated with sexual violence.
Dazzle: What was the motivation to venture into such an undertaking?
Souyenne: Well, as a survivor of sexual violence I came back from my studies abroad and wanted to give back to Saint Lucia. I wanted to be able to help survivors/victims and provide them with an avenue or an outlet to talk about what they have been through and to help them find ways and avenues to seek help. I wanted to help them find ways to continue to heal and grow. When I returned and realised the predicament that survivors/victims face and the sort of help that they received, that sort of pushed me down the road I am currently travelling.
Initially, I did not want to return to St.Lucia but after going through school and acquiring more knowledge in the area of Psychology, Victimology, Delinquecy and Counselling, I realised where my passion lay and decided to come back and grasp the opportunity to help. We wanted to address not just the issue of sexual violence, but also issues of deviancy and juvenile delinquency across the board. We were hoping that the government and other groups in the community would see the need to urgently address the issue of sexual violence and use us because we have something vital to contribute. When that didn’t happen, I had no choice but to send out job applications in an effort to utilize my abilities elsewhere.
Dazzle: Vel, what is your field of work and how did you become associated with PROSAF?
Velika: We both studied psychology at school. Sue did Forensics while I took on General Psychology. But when I left school in New York, I stayed back a few years to work with patients suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. We had always been speaking about this venture and so we decided to begin PROSAF. PROSAF has 2 branches, Sue’s section deals specifically with all aspects of sexual violence, the healing journey and the recovery process. The other side, my side, The ‘Power Of One’ which deals with the family unit and education that.
Basically, in this line of work and in health-care work as well, we have the term ‘vulnerable populations’ where there is a lot of segregation and fake separation that make people vulnerable. We live in a small space in Saint Lucia and we all fall under ‘vulnerable populations,’ so we all need to look after each other in our communities. Sexual violence is a human issue and my aim in teaming up with Sue to form PROSAF was to identify persons who were not ready to come forward and say that ‘I am a survivor of sexual abuse’.
Dazzle: What are the primary functions of PROSAF and do you operate from a central base?
Velika: At this point we do not really have an office as we are entrepreneurs and have to grapple with the whole issue of funding. We created employment for ourselves by forming PROSAF. We saw the need to fill the void, so we created this organisation. There is a need for victim advocacy, which we both studied and that entails seeing the client from the moment they were violated sexually, to providing them with any information they may need before or after having a rape kit performed and thereafter offering them moral support, individually or along with their family.
We visit schools and put ourselves out there through media promotions, our website and articles in the local newspapers, written mostly by Sue. We also do research work since there is no sexual violence data available on the island. We recently conducted two studies in Saint Lucia and put the statistics out there showing how prevalent rape, incest and sexual molestation are in Saint Lucia.
We do a lot of community outreach and work with the schools that see the importance of the work we do and are willing to let us in. We have underground support groups for those who are seeking a place to speak out and get support and validation. Our support groups are heald in private locations known only to those in the group and cater to both individual clients and groups. At present we deal with females but we hope to cater to men soon as we get the capacity. We have gone a step further to train 5 persons who help us run our support and validation hotline. We have a third partner who is a professor at Central Michigan University. We brought her on board to help with the research aspect of it.
Souyenne: We received some initial funding from the British High Commissioner that allowed us to visit the schools who would have us, to cover printing of pamphlets and transportation costs. We tried to reach out to several schools but only six out of 24 have invited us in and acknowledged the merit of what sexual violence education can do for their students both as victims and as potential first responders. This funding has been the only we have received thus far. As such we’ve had to pay for quite a bit of the things we have done over the past 3 years from our pockets.
Dazzle: Taking into account the broader social context, what are the basic characteristics of people who get entangled in incidents of sexual violence and abuse?
Velika: A lot of it has to do with the global economic situation where people complain that ‘I cannot get out of this situation because I cannot afford to provide for myself.’ This is why under ‘The Power Of One’ we deal with a lot of community entrepreneurship, where we teach people how to provide for themselves. We teach them how to be resourceful so that they can elevate themselves and get out of what they deem to be abusive situations. That includes both men and women as well as children. That’s how we cater to that aspect of the problem. For me, education is important and it all goes back to being open-minded and accepting the impact … the issue of intent versus impact by this I mean, people need to understand that with good intention they can still cause others hurt. We need to be open to that and not hate ourselves for it but realised we have all hurt someone(impact) without meaning malice(intent). Then we free up the communication waves on how to interact more comfortably].
Dazzle: What are the prospects for PROSAF making inroads with this venture? And what has been your greatest reward from your efforts so far?
Velika: I do live firmly by the principle that if you help one you help many, and I know for a fact that I’ve helped quite a few. I’ve seen students who could not read because they stopped functioning, all because of their trauma. But they ultimately overcame this ordeal and started reading and excelling in school again because of the long-term care we’ve been able to provide them. I’ve seen men and women who found the courage to speak about what they were going through and what they are experiencing. And lots of times in intimate relationships, if you give it the time you are able to get the point where you can eventually exhale and people are then able to share their feelings. It is not something that you can run from, violence is part of human nature. We need to accept this fact and educate ourselves on how to deal with it and move on.
The message that I want to send out is that if you are going through something traumatic … if you have been violated, if you feel helpless and hopeless, find someone who will listen and don’t stop until you find someone who believes you. Most importantly, you must know the nature of your journey and you must believe in yourself. And please engage us, check out our contact numbers [7236466Velika-7249991 Sou (Stop us on the street)] and if we don’t have the solutions to the problem we will find someone to help you out.
Dazzle applauds the efforts of these dedicated and caring young ladies as they earnestly seek to champion the cause of victims/survivors of Sexual Violence in Saint Lucia and provide them with the care and support they need.
