This Young Woman From Dominica Is Helping To End The Victimization of Children

At Lifeline Ministries we believe in  helping the vulnerable,standing with the disadvantaged and collaborating with others to develop sustainability. I realized that my calling was always to give back to my community, I also realized that I needed to get more closer to God and be very more proactive and volunteer my time. I was given many task as my job title was administrative assistance. I was involved in many functions at Lifeline including Events Planning and  Capacity building training courses. I also received many opportunities to attend and participate in workshops and training to enhance my capacity as a Junior social worker.

The training which made the most impact on my life was the Victim Support training which I graduated  from and received my certificate of completion and my ID to be officially called a victim Supporter. I became part of Lifeline Teen Support group which is a group where young girls who have been victims of sexual abuse become survivors. Each person has a mentor  (Victim Supporter) and the mentors personally empower, motivate and befriend their mentor. I realized there that so many young girls are vulnerable to sexual abuse and we must find a way to eradicate and make the public aware of the heinous acts and find ways we can resolve it.

I was then introduced to the Dominica National Council of Women where i became an active member of the Organization  and then became I the  administrator on a voluntary basis because the administrator resigned . I  was able to voice my opinions and make necessary recommendations as it relates to Women and girls sending out press releases to condemn acts of crime against children women and girls.

I eventually became the Lifeline Victim Support Coordinator  where I coordinate Training for Victim supporters and Coordinate the Two support groups Teen Support group and Adult support group. I believe that leading this group has made me become an empowering advocates on the reduction / eradication of children’s vulnerability to sexual abuse and to support survivors through the healing process. I saw that there is a dire need for more voices to be heard and I believed that I was the young voice for the voiceless.

It is my dream to see my community and my country by extension become a place free from all forms of Gender Based Violence  and an inclusive community. Women are entitled to the equal enjoyment and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in all fields. 

One of my dreams came to pass on the 8th March 2016 International Women’s Day where Lifeline Ministries in Collaboration with the Dominica National Council of Women Funded by the Canada Fund (CFLI)  where we launched a twenty-four (24) hour telephone helpline for Victims of GBV to call and receive quality and professional operators who were part of the cadre of  Victim Supporters.

We also received funded to run seven (7) district meetings island wide on Recognizing Reporting and Recovering from Abuse I was happy to be one of the facilitators and  going from district to district hearing the voices from the communities, raising their concerns and sharing Ideas and recommendations. I realized that many communities had the same opinions and a lot of persons are very familiar to the subject and take it very close at heart.

What other commitments do you have? 

Right now in my country there is no safe house for victims of abuse and because my country is very small everyone is familiar to each other and the environment and confidentiality might be a big problem. However it is very important that we have a few safe places in our country that persons can run to and not only receive shelter but receive support to recover. This is one of my other ideas i would like to see in the near future.

Our Organization is right now in the process of training another cadre of Victim supporter which we will include Victim Support through Social Media and advocacy. We are also targeting young college students and graduates who would love to become a gender activist or an advocate for child’s rights to participate. I am looking forward to meeting the new class and sharing Ideas, networking.

 Being part of the NGO Coalition for the protection of children rights and working with children will always be my inspiration. I love putting a smile on a person’s face and I love making people happier and I believe that we should always be our brothers and sisters keepers and always encourage person’s to do the right and just things.

As an organization gets larger, there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

So far employment at Lifeline Ministries hasn’t grown in size however it has grown by influence. Our aim is not to grow by size but by influence. We are not a service provider we work as a catalyst to collaborate and partner with providers helping in sourcing funding and resources. We use volunteers to give support by giving their time out. We also have a cadre of 70 trained volunteers to support Victims of Gender Base Violence. We always continue to call on advocates and volunteers.