Celebrating Women – A promise is a promise. Time to stop violence against women.

India Rainbow’s annual celebration of women concluded with a strong message from Archana Medhekar, a family lawyer and member of India Rainbow’s Policy Advisory Committee ‘You are stronger than you know. You are worthier than you believe’. Not only this, but other messages of support and encouragement was the thread that brought together over 100 women clients of India Rainbow’s Violence Against Women Prevention program - to help celebrate their strength, acknowledge their struggle and give hope for a better life for themselves and their children. Held on May 24th, the theme of the day was ‘A Promise is a Promise – Time to Stop Violence Against Women’. Gurpreet Malhotra, the newly appointed Executive Director of India Rainbow welcomed the guests, and spoke about a special place that women have in the community. He asked them to find allies among the men in their lives and in the community, and to reach out to help and support each other.

Sanjukta Das, Business Placement Advisor at Humber College, and a volunteer with Art of Living, led everyone through a visioning exercise to believe that they will be taken care of by this vast universe of which we are a tiny microscopic element. She demonstrated how with a change in our mindset, we can be happy now - and to believe that they all are beautiful, have talent, skill and are a lighthouse to the family that builds a community. She suggested having a support system, friendship and commitment to take care of their own life, so as to create waves of happiness around us.
Meena Chopra, artist, writer, poet and educationist, asked the women to empower themselves by believing in their strength. She said that women also have strong qualities – just like men- and this is an important part of their personality. A women plays many roles – that of a daughter, homemaker, wife, and mother, and by playing so many roles, she makes the world a beautiful place. Meena also recited her poem wherein she glorified the role of a women.
Other activities included foot-tapping dance performance by Jasmine and Tishana, who drew the audience to dance with them. A zumba dance demonstration by Alison led the women to break a sweat and shake a leg. Many of them participated in a fashion show parading in glitzy costumes and high heels - what a difference these activities made in the lives of the women who are facing violence and abuse in their personal lives. No one would have guessed that these are the same faces that are hiding behind a veil, weeping on a pillow in a shelter while putting up a brave face, assuring their children of how beautiful their future is going to be because their mother is strong and will persevere to change their lives for the better.
Thanks to the supporters, volunteers and donors of the event who gave of their time and talent to make this event a very memorable one for the mothers and their children.StarBuzzOnline.com