Help end violence against women and girls – today

By Guest Contributor Rob Fields, cross-posted from Bold As Love

Please support the international effort to end violence against women and girls.

This Tuesday, September 28, please check out the film Tapestries of Hope, which is filmmaker Michealene Risley’s documentary that exposes the horrors of the rape and sexual abuse of thousands of young girls in Zimbabwe by men who believe it will cure HIV/AIDS.  It focuses also on the work of Betty Makoni, Zimbabwean child rights activist and a 2009 CNN Hero, who works to shelter, educate and empower these female victims through her Zimbabwe-based Girl Child Network.

In addition to having the film screened simultaneously in more than 100 theaters around the country, the other goal of this event is to raise awareness for the International Violence Against Women Act and encourage folks in the nationwide audience to contact their congressional representatives to urge them to support it.  The bill is a bipartisan initiative led by Senator John Kerry and others and, according to a press release, “is the first comprehensive legislation aimed at ending violence against women and girls worldwide.”

The simplest thing you can do to support this effort is to write to your representative now.

The Tapestries of Hope site has other suggestions for ways you can get involved.

Finally, Facebook will will be interviewing the director on Tuesday at 2pm PST, and you can watch the interview and ask questions right from your Facebook account via this link.

Check out the film’s trailer here.

Shout out to Kevin Powell for the heads up on this.