Working in the domestic abuse movement can be very difficult.  With the numbers of survivors in shelter constantly on the rise and homicides at epidemic rates, often, as advocates, the impact of the work is not immediately recognizable. However, just when it seems all too overwhelming, something happens to make us pause and remember why we fight this battle each and every day. 

Last Wednesday evening, during our weekly house meeting in the emergency shelter, 27 survivors participated in the Clothesline Project.  The Clothesline Project (www.clotheslineproject.org) provides a “vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt that is then displayed as testimony to the problem of violence against women.”  The color of each shirt represents a different scenario. Yellow is for those who have been battered, pink for those who have been sexually assaulted, and white indicates that a homicide has taken place. 

Below you can see the picture of a white shirt decorated by a survivor in honor of her mother, who was killed by her father.  The survivor is represented as a child in the center of the shirt.  Please take a moment to read her heartfelt message. You may initially see only a horrible story of violence and tragedy.  We know that statistically, women who witness domestic abuse as a child are more likely to be in an abusive relationship as an adult. In fact:

• A child’s exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk fact for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next (American Psychological Association, Violence and the Family: Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family,1996)
• In families where the mother is assaulted by the father, daughters are at risk of sexual abuse 6.51 times greater than girls in non-abusive families (Bowker, Arbitell and McFerron, 1988)

The artist witnessed the horrible abuse and death of her mother when she was young and later became trapped in an abusive relationship.  With tremendous strength and courage, she is breaking the cycle of violence for her children.  By coming to Harbor House, she wants her children to know that cycle must end.

We are proud of her courage and thank her for reminding what domestic abuse awareness month is all about.