Hang out your feelings!
By Claudia Liburd
Nevis Reporter
After the gruesome killing of Shermel Phillips, on Saturday morning the women of Nevis lined the streets of Charlestown to post various tee shirts with messages such as 'Stop the Violence against Women' in their protest against domestic violence against women.
The demonstration was organized by the Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of Social Development on Nevis. Coordinator of Gender Affairs on Nevis, Salome James, explained that the activity was a means for members of the community to express their feelings on domestic violence.
"The demonstration was against the abuse of women and basically it was women hanging out their feelings. People need to have some avenue to give expression to their feelings and when crises happen in a community and people are not able to say how they feel, or talk out it is not good," she said. "These women just wanted to talk and they write out their feelings on tee-shirts and so they just hung them there. It started around 9 a.m. and it continued into the evening."
James pointed out that the protest was organized by the support group Voices of Women in Leadership (VOW) which also organized a similar demonstration on International Women's Day.
"On International Women's Day a group of women called Voices of Women in Leadership also held a similar activity along the Bay Road in front at the Samuel Hunkins drive.
The activity in itself is an avenue for self expression. We wanted persons to see and to express themselves and let the community know how they feel about violence and about how women should be treated," James said.
The demonstration was called 'Hang out Your Feelings' and James said that in every crisis in a community there needs to be space for people to talk and say how they feel.
"This occasion made a space in people's lives to therapeutically express their feelings," she said.
