RALEIGH, NC- On April 12, within the framework of the Month of Prevention and Awareness against Sexual Violence, the PARE and Reproductive Health and Justice programs of El Pueblo, will begin a new cycle of sessions in Spanish for people who are interested in learning how to prevent domestic violence and leadership in reproductive health and justice.
“We started a new group to train Latina women over the age of 18 on issues related to gender violence and how to combat it,” says Mónica Drasal-Hinton, Manager of PARE (Assistance, Resources and Education Program).
Since it began in 2009, PARE has positively impacted the lives of more than 300 people. It has become a safe space for conversation and healing for survivors and a resource for those who wish to learn more to share with affected people.
“PARE helped me in a powerful way. I feel that I was able to recover my identity as a person at a time when a horrible situation of great violence was going on,” recalls Teresa Barrientos, who was part of the program in August 2021. “The understanding, time and information they gave me helped me understand that I was not crazy (as her abuser told her) but that I was defending my rights and my children’s.”
Like Teresa, PARE participants receive training from experts in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault prevention over the course of 15 to 16 sessions, according to Drasal-Hinton.
Each PARE session is free, in Spanish, and offered on Tuesdays for two hours, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
It is worth mentioning that during 2020 and 2021 a total of 282 people in North Carolina lost their lives due to cases of domestic violence, according to data from the state Department of Public Safety.
“The greatest impact of PARE is to help recognize that there are situations that are difficult but not impossible to solve and that the only way is to be informed. An informed woman is empowered and is able not only to stop the difficult situation they are in but to move forward and find a new future”, says Drasal-Hinton.
Reproductive Health and Justice
As part of the PARE sessions, other topics are integrated that are addressed by the Reproductive Health and Justice Program, through which you learn about health topics, including information on anatomy, contraceptive methods, how to prevent sexually transmitted infections, as well as the difference between reproductive health, reproductive justice and reproductive rights frameworks, among others.
“We believe that it is important to understand how our body works and what we can do to prevent pregnancies, as well as to have a historical understanding of how our communities have been oppressed and how we have resisted in order to learn from the past,” says Florences M. Simán, director of The People’s Programs.
Training leaders
Both programs help train community leaders and are, in many cases, a preliminary step to integrate the Community Leadership and Action Committee (CLAC) of El Pueblo.
“Through the PARE and Reproductive Health and Justice empowerment group, our members help spread the information they have learned to their families and community,” explains Drasal-Hinton.
How to sign up
To join these sessions, those interested can register through the following link: bit.ly/3LLzA0p
For more information call Monica at (919) 835-1525, ext. 106 or send an email to monica@elpueblo.org. You may also contact Florence (919) 835-1525, ext. 107 or florence@elpueblo.org
Courtesy: Prensa El Pueblo, Inc.
