The V-Team, a group of Seattle Pacific University students and alumni, will bring the issue of violence against women to the stage this weekend with monologues written to discuss how violence against women affects everyone.
Globally, at least one in three women will be beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime, according to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Of those incidents, the FBI estimates 63 percent of sexual abuse incidents go unreported in the United States.
In conjunction with V-DAY-a global movement to end violence against women and girls-SPU's Sophia, a club for gender equality and part of the Women's Studies Department, will present a staged benefit reading of "A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer."
"They wanted to destroy me; destroy my body and kill my spirit," recalls Lumo Furaha, a survivor of rape by armed militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo-a nation that will be the focus of this year's V-DAY and which the U.N. cited as having rampant sexual violence. "I am speaking out because I don't want any child of the next generation to have to live through what I have lived through."
All proceeds of the SPU-staged reading will be split between the Victims Support Team, that works with the Seattle Police Department as a response team to domestic violence, and the Congo-based HEAL Africa, an organization of 28 safe houses for victims of sexual violence, and one of two hospitals in the region that specializes in the repair of rape trauma injuries.
"A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer," will be performed at 7 p.m., April 16 and 17 in SPU's Upper Gwinn Commons. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or reserved by contacting the SPU V-Team at spu.vday@gmail.com.[[In-content Ad]]
