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Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Inspires DUT Gender Forum

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Inspires DUT Gender Forum

Shabnam Hashmi, who has recently been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, inspired Durban University of Technology’s Gender Forum during her talk on women and child abuse which was held at the ML Sultan campus in Durban on Thursday 29 July 2014.  

Hashmi had previously graced the20th IPM Women’s Convention held at DUT.

Shabnam Hashmi is the founder of Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) and has selflessly fought for women’s rights in India.  

She spoke about the ordeals of the victims of violence and sexual abuse during her talk and how she and her colleagues had been working tirelessly to promote women and children’s rights around the world but particularly, in India.

Her advice on how to strengthen awareness within the DUT community was that people should participate and engage with victims of abuse in order to get a deeper understanding of violence against women and children and help fight against it.

“I think it is important for students at university level to engage with community services. It’s very important that the university has outreach plans of working in areas where the underprivileged are living and where women are living and facing discrimination and abuse on a daily basis. Once you start working with people who are facing problems then you will start developing your own understanding of the seriousness of these issues,” said Hashmi.

Chairperson for the DUT Gender Forum, Ranilla Pillay said, “Shabnam Hashmi is truly a woman to be applauded.  She is a true activist who is not afraid to leave her comfort zone to speak out and take a stand for women and children that are victims of abuse.  Her talk was thought provoking as well as inspirational. I urge those that have heard her to take a page from her book and to join forces because together we can touch lives.”

Hashmi has worked with countless discontented women and children with limited funds and she has emerged as a single ‘pressure’ group. She has documented the accounts of all rape victims in her book ‘Break the Silence’.

Indrani Naidoo, who is a member of the DUT Gender Forum, thanked Hashmi for her frank presentation about this harsh reality that is happening at every back door. “We too often slip into a comfort zone in life and forget about the defenseless and abused women and children.  When those who can make the change say and do nothing then we all aid the abusers. This is why I have to salute Shabnam and people like her who face obstacles, threats and abuse themselves on a daily basis,” she said.

Hashmi continues to work tirelessly and voluntarily as she had been for the past two decades, focusing on peace and communal harmony and has also been actively involved in women’s literacy, environmental issues, children’s education, and most of all, violence against women and children.

-Gift Nyamapfene
 

Pictured: Shabnam Hashmi, during her talk at DUT.

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