Violence Awareness Workshop

In Partnership with the women police department, ACCTS trained 15 girls on Self Defense at Turra in the North of Jordan.

June 27, 2013

Turra, Jordan (ACCTS-AWT) - Turra is a small town located on the border between Jordan and Syria. It is now home to thousands of Syrian refugees. Like many other towns in Jordan, this has resulted in increased tensions between Jordanian and Syrians and the influx of refugees has aggravated the already poor economy and its destructive practices. Thus women also suffer from sexual harassment both verbally and physically. Women are told to steer clear from alleyways and many find it uncomfortable to walk the streets of Turra due to the intimidation they face on a daily basis.

For this reason, AWT hosted a workshop to raise awareness on the issue of “Violence &; Self Defense” whereby 15 girls attended from as young as 10 to 60 years old. Two ACCTS staff picked two policewomen from the police department and drove to Turra for the workshop. Partnering with the women police department has always positively impacted such workshops and their policewoman trainers are always willing to help no matter the distance.

The goals of this workshop include; identifying the different types of violence against women, understanding the violence and how to successfully defend against any form of abuse. It is mandatory that these women understand their environment, learn how to care about personal safety, and speak up about the abuse when the right opportunity arises. The policewomen also provided practical techniques to protect these women from any threatening situations and the women were very active when learning the different moves.

Overall we received very positive feedback from the women and many were encouraged. One lady expressed her gratitude for this “eye opening workshop”.

She also shared that

“After attending it, I found out that I am emotionally, physically and economically abused by my family; I live in a prison. Please come always.”

In the future we hope to establish similar workshops in schools instead. This will provide a secure environment whereby women and girls will be able to attend with no hassle from their families.

For more information, visit our Women Empowerment pages.