For more than a year, the graduate of Cinnaminson High School and University of Pennsylvania has made her home in the village of Maun in Botswana serving in a small grass-roots program called Women Against Rape. Dougherty was assigned to the program after joining the Peace Corps in 2006. She said she has found it to be one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. “I'm very happy doing what I'm doing,” she said last week during a telephone interview. “It's a very serious commitment, but at the end of the day it's so fantastic to be able to help women who are facing some very serious issues.” Established in the early 1990s in response to escalating incidences of rape and sexual abuse in Botswana, Women Against Rape provides support, assistance and counseling to survivors of sexual assault. “Very often it's very difficult for women who have been abused here to seek help,” Dougherty said. She said women who report that they've been raped or abused are often threatened by the perpetrator, leading to a countless number of incidents not being reported to authorities. “It's a very large problem,” Dougherty said. “There's a lot of suffering. They all know that if they report these abuses they would be putting their life in danger.” Dougherty said many of the victims are shunned by their own families. “A lot of women are kicked out of their home because the family believes she has brought shame to the family,” she said. Dougherty said many of these women have no place to go and the abuses are allowed to continue. Currently, Dougherty is trying to raise enough funds to open a safe house on the outskirts of Maun for the victims.
Danielle Dougherty always wanted to spend a few years abroad, but even she couldn't have imagined that she would end up in a frontier town in Botswana as a Peace Corps Volunteer
Cinna. woman finds work in Africa rewarding
By TODD MCHALE
Burlington County Times
Danielle Dougherty always wanted to spend a few years abroad, but even she couldn't have imagined that she would end up in a frontier town in southern Africa.
For more than a year, the graduate of Cinnaminson High School and University of Pennsylvania has made her home in the village of Maun in Botswana serving in a small grass-roots program called Women Against Rape.
Dougherty was assigned to the program after joining the Peace Corps in 2006. She said she has found it to be one of the most rewarding experiences of her life.
“I'm very happy doing what I'm doing,” she said last week during a telephone interview. “It's a very serious commitment, but at the end of the day it's so fantastic to be able to help women who are facing some very serious issues.”
Established in the early 1990s in response to escalating incidences of rape and sexual abuse in Botswana, Women Against Rape provides support, assistance and counseling to survivors of sexual assault.
“Very often it's very difficult for women who have been abused here to seek help,” Dougherty said.
She said women who report that they've been raped or abused are often threatened by the perpetrator, leading to a countless number of incidents not being reported to authorities.
“It's a very large problem,” Dougherty said. “There's a lot of suffering. They all know that if they report these abuses they would be putting their life in danger.”
Dougherty said many of the victims are shunned by their own families.
“A lot of women are kicked out of their home because the family believes she has brought shame to the family,” she said.
Dougherty said many of these women have no place to go and the abuses are allowed to continue.
Currently, Dougherty is trying to raise enough funds to open a safe house on the outskirts of Maun for the victims.
“Right now, we have a building, but we need to build a security wall before we can open (the safe house),” she said.
Although the abuse of women seems to be entrenched in the culture of that part of the world, Dougherty believes the women will stand up against it if given support.
“Once we get the safe house up and running, I think a lot more women will begin to report these abuses,” she said. “I think it will eventually begin to change the culture.”
Dougherty said she's written several grant proposals to charitable organizations and embassies and hopes to raise money back in her hometown.
Why should someone in the United States care about a small program for rape victims in a faraway country?
“Geography is just a distance,'' Dougherty said. “These are human beings that are suffering.”
Persons interested in donating to the organization can do so by sending a check to Women Against Rape, P.O. Box 2391, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077.
Email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com
