Pakistan: The WISE women of Karachi

Pakistan: The WISE women of Karachi

WISE -- Women’s International Shared Experience Project - travelled to Karachi, to work with women from throughout the Sindh area who have been raped, sexually assaulted or domestically abused.

9 women spent 14 days living together and receiving training in video production. Some of the women could not read or write and their confidence had been stripped away from them as a result of the abuse they had faced.

Watch the videos about the training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg5bCt4pCgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np3ekERtw-Y

Through participatory learning activities -- a practice based on the writings of Paulo Friere -- and the use of symbols and touch, the women were able to make a documentary, which tells the story of the women of Pakistan. The women not only planned and filmed the documentary, but also edited it -- not a small task for those in the group who had never touched a computer before.

The resulting documentary is a unique look at the issues addressed through the eyes of women who have faced or who are still facing human rights abuses against them each day.
The video has been split into two parts, so that we could upload them in Pakistan -- due to ISP restrictions. Please take a look at them here:
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr6vRR8Y-oo
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHHn5DooORo

The WISE project will now travel to Jakarta to work with women who have been infected with HIV – either through drug use or through prostitution. Please continue to watch WISE’s progress through the following channels:
Youtube
Facebook
Webpage

These pages are updated regularly and we like to encourage the women to interact with our fans on facebook. Leaving questions and comments shows these women that you care and are listening. There are also extra videos posted on these sites taken from the learning process. Early interviews with the public on the subject the group are interested in.

In 1999 The World Bank conducted a survey with people living on less than a dollar a day. They asked what was the most important thing to them. The majority answered, above food and water, that access to a voice was the most important thing to them. We are living in a time when this access is possible.

WISE is a programme with an aim to be the catalyst for change via communication -- at a grassroots level, through viewing and discussions in local communities; and globally via the Internet.

Press and reviews in Pakistan

Please take a look at this article taken from the Tribune Express in Karachi. The Karachi arm of The International Herald Tribune.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

ENDS