The Violence Against Women Prevention Program (VAWPP) hosted a domestic violence awareness month candlelight vigil on the Student Union patio on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The event was in collaboration with United Services’ Domestic Violence Program, which is a “private, nonprofit behavioral health center” that provides domestic violence shelters in Connecticut, according to the United Services website. The vigil featured United Services representative Paige Briggs, who led and helped organize the event.
The event started off with Briggs reading a poem about domestic violence by Kimberly A. Collins, titled “Remember My Name.” Briggs explained that Collins wrote the poem so people would remain committed to stopping domestic violence, and not forget the names of victims who have passed as a result.
After the poem, there was a minute of silence for victims of domestic violence and all participants were gathered in a circle holding electric candles to mourn those who passed.
Nala Davis, a seventh-semester student at the University of Connecticut who is part of the VAWPP program at the Women’s Center, said the event was “healing” and “empowering” as it brought together a community of people who have experienced the same thing. She also stated that the moment of remembrance allowed the community to recognize the “strength and resilience” many domestic violence victims possess.
Briggs then began to hand out two to three names of domestic violence victims who had passed away in Connecticut from 2001 to the present day to all attendees. Each person approached the mic stand and read the names of the victims, a little information about who they were and their story and when they died.
“Domestic violence awareness month is an important month,” said Nuratu Quarshie, the VAWPP director. “The more we do prevention and the more we create awareness, the lower the statistics get hopefully.”
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, one in four women and one in seven men are victims of severe domestic violence.
The event concluded with attendees writing their stories or messages for domestic violence victims on purple paper hands. The paper hands were used as a pledge to put a stop to domestic violence and to use hands not a vehicle for violence. The hands will be displayed in the Women’s Center after the event.
The VAWPP program in the Women’s Center has services for students that experience sexual assault or domestic violence.
“We have confidential resources,” Quarshie said. “If you come to the Women’s Center to report a case of sexual assault, we’re not required to report any identifiers to the University.”
Another program the Women’s Center provides for domestic violence victims is In-Power, which is “a support group for survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence,” Davis explained. The group meets from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Women’s Center multipurpose room, according to their Instagram.
For more resources on domestic violence support, visit the womenscenter.uconn.edu page or unitedservicesct.org page.