HelloGiggles » Hannah Skvarla

It Takes a Village

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:00:14 +0000

In 2007, I traveled to Dakar, Senegal to attend a very important ceremony. The community of Malicounda Bamabara’s was celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their commitment to abandon female genital cutting (FGC).

Never heard of FGC? Neither had I, until I met Molly Melching. Molly is the founder and executive director of Tostan, a non profit organization “dedicated to empowering African communities to bring about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for human rights.” Tostan understands that lasting change must come from within a community. Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program educates people to make decisions for themselves and their communities. Thanks to Tostan, 6,000 communities in Africa have abandoned FGC and child marriages.

It is important for neighboring villages to make the commitment to abandon FGC together. Demba Diawara explained, “If others do not agree with the decision to end female genital cutting, we will have insurmountable problems. Our girls will have no husbands since this is an important requirement for marriage in our ethnic group.”

It is our responsibility to advance women’s rights around the world.

Get Involved: Volunteer & Intern Raise Awareness Give with Amazon & Ebay

Learn More: Read the New York Times article, “Senegal Curbs a Bloody Rite for Girls and Women” I highly recommend you read Half the Sky : Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. .

Featured image: Tostan Executive Director, Molly Melching (left), presents the human rights booklet to the community, project partners, and local government officials (Via tostan.blogspot.com)

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Girls Not Brides: Helping to End Child Marriage

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:32 +0000

Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 200 non profit organizations dedicated to ending child marriage.

It is estimated that each year 10 million girls around the world are married before they turn 18. This means that every day over 25,000 girls are forced into marriages. In the developing world, 1 in 3 girls is married before she turns 18. Some girls are engaged to be married at 5 years old and married when they are 8 years old.

Girls are not physically or emotionally ready to become wives or mothers. Child brides have higher chances of experiencing domestic violence. When girls marry young they are often forced to drop out of school. Child brides are denied the basic human right to decide when and whom they marry.

We must stand up for the rights of women around the world and end child marriage.

Get Involved:
Share the Facts
Share their Stories
Visit Girls Not Brides and Follow @GirlsNotBrides

More stories about women’s rights & children’s rights:
Let Them Play: Saudi Women & Sports
The Unfinished Revolution
Help Child Farmworkers

Photo via: Girls Not Brides

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Cycle with Soul: Charity Ride

Hannah Skvarla — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:20:29 +0000

The only thing that can make a Soul Cycle class better, is taking a class that raises money for charity.

On Monday, February 18, Soul Cycle West Hollywood will raise money for the Good Shepherd Shelter in Los Angeles and 100% of ticket sales generated through cyclewithsoul.eventbrite.com will go to Good Shepherd Shelter, which serves as a safe house for mothers and their children who have fallen victim to domestic violence. Join Michelle Lovitt, Zobha brand ambassador and celebrity trainer, to help raise funds & awareness around domestic violence. Zobha is generously donating $1,000 cash and significant clothing to the shelter.

Following the event participants will receive gift bags during a special reception. Cycle With Soul Charity Ride will help families in need. Twelve moms will receive 2 months of services and classes in the Good Shepherd Adult Learning Center. The moms will learn skills to help them stop the cycle of domestic violence creating a violence-free future for themselves and their children. The donations raised will cover the cost to put a new roof on the apartments where the families live.

Make a donation or book your bike! I hope to see you there!

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One Billion Rising: V-Day

Hannah Skvarla — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 03:11:36 +0000

Eve Ensler is the brilliant woman who wrote The Vagina Monologues in 1996. The play has been translated into 48 languages and performed in 140 countries. Her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to found V-Day in 1998. V-Day is non profit organization based in California that has created “a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery.”

This Valentine’s Day will mark V-Day’s 15th anniversary. To celebrate, V-Day launched a global campaign called ONE BILLION RISING.

Join One Billion Rising

For more articles on women’s rights, read:
“It Always Happened at Night”: The Truth About Domestic Violence
Let Them Play: Saudi Women & Sports
The Unfinished Revolution

Photos via: V-Day

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“It Always Happened at Night”: The Truth About Domestic Violence

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:00:02 +0000

About 11 million women older than age 15 in Turkey have been physically or sexually abused by their husband or partner.

According to Human Rights Watch, researchers documented “girls as young as 14 being raped; stabbed; kicked in the abdomen while pregnant; beaten with hammers, sticks, branches, and hoses to the point of broken bones and fractured skulls; locked up with dogs or other animals; starved; shot with a stun gun; injected with poison; pushed off a roof; and subjected to severe psychological violence.”

The current system is not working. Women who are pregnant or unmarried are often turned away from shelters. Women who are brave enough to go to the police are often encouraged to reconcile with their abusers to “preserve family unity”. Some women have been murdered by their abuser after seeking protection.

A protection order only means something if it is enforced. Although the law requires police to check on the woman weekly, the researchers did not find a case where this happened. Police usually do not respond to calls from women when their abusers returned to their home to threaten them.

We must pressure Turkey to protect these women. These women need to be able to seek protection for themselves and their children in shelters. These women need the police to protect them from domestic abuse.

To learn more read the full report “He Loves You, He Beats You” from Human Rights Watch.

For more articles on women’s rights, read:
Let Them Play: Saudi Women & Sports
The Unfinished Revolution

Photo via: Human Rights Watch
Photo credit: MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images

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Voices for Justice

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:00:52 +0000

I got involved with Human Rights Watch four years ago when a friend invited me to the organization’s annual dinner. My commitment has only deepened as I have learned more about the non-profit. Through HRW, an activist like me can have an impact against the repression of human rights around the world from Los Angeles.

For over 30 years, HRW has been at the forefront of the international human rights movement, investigating human rights abuses and exposing the truth in order to bring about deep-rooted change. Throughout the globe HRW works with local activists who often risk their lives to protect the rights and dignity of others.

At the Voices for Justice Annual Dinners, HRW celebrates human rights defenders from around the world. HRW honors courageous individuals who have received our highest tribute — the Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism – in recognition of their unwavering, fearless commitment to human rights.

Please join HRW for our Dinner in Los Angeles on November 12 as we honor Abbé Benoît Kinalegu with special guest Ben Affleck, and an acoustic performance by the Grammy Award winning group Ozomatli!

Abbé Benoît Kinalegu | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Abbé Benoît Kinalegu exposes abuses committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and works to rehabilitate its victims. The LRA rebel group terrorizes citizens in central Africa by killing, raping, and abducting civilians, including children. Kinalegu helped establish an Early Warning Network to report suspected LRA activity via radio, and he also works on rehabilitation programs for LRA abductees who have escaped. He has become a powerful voice urging the international community to bring LRA commanders to justice. Human Rights Watch honors Abbé Benoît Kinalegu for his commitment to protecting civilians and ending the threat posed by the LRA.

Ben Affleck, Special Guest
In addition to a successful career as an actor, writer, and director, Ben Affleck is also a passionate advocate and philanthropist. In 2010, Affleck founded Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), dedicated to supporting effective, local, and community-based approaches to sustainable economic and social development in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ECI is the first U.S.-based advocacy and grant-making initiative wholly focused on working with and for the people of eastern Congo.

For more information or to purchase tickets by phone, please contact MTA Events (818.906.0240 | hrw@mtaevents.com)

This year’s Dinners are held in 16 cities worldwide: Amsterdam, Beirut, Chicago, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Oslo, Paris, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Toronto, and Zurich.

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Big Sunday Back to School Drive

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:22:04 +0000

Big Sunday is an awesome organization with a simple mission: ”to build community through community service. [they] believe that everyone has some way that they can help somebody else.”

Big Sunday is hosting a Back-to-School Drive. They will be collecting items at their office (6111 Melrose) on September 10-12, from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. On Thursday, September 13^th, they will be collecting items all day. Starting at 6:30, volunteers can come to their office to help sort, count and pack all the items. Afterwards, they will be serving dinner for all the volunteers.

They received requests from two wonderful schools Venice High and Hamilton Middle School in Long Beach as well as the Children’s Lifesaving Foundation in Santa Monica

Venice High: “We have a culinary program with no culinary teacher, we have a new media program with no film teacher and we have a STEM SLC with no trained engineering teacher or software for the program! There is absolutely no money for school supplies.”

Hamilton Middle School in Long Beach: “In my 26 years as a Special Education Teacher at Hamilton, I have never seen our situation this urgent.”

Each have made special back-to-school requests. (Please see the attached wish list. It includes everything from backpacks to computer paper to USB drives to colored pencils to energy bars.)

If you can help, or you want to get your office, faith group, school, club or neighborhood to help, please let them know! If you’d rather not shop, send a check and they will do the shopping for you!

Please contact Jack Arsenault at Jack@bigsunday.org if you can help, or with any questions you may have. Hope you can come! (And feel free to pass this on!)

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Art with a Heart

Hannah Skvarla — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The Human Rights Watch LA Network will host the 2nd Annual Art with a Heart event in Santa Monica.
The evening will showcase art, photography and music by local artists.

Please join us!

Wednesday, August 22
7 – 10 PM

Santa Monica Art Studios
3026 Airport Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90405

DJs
Jilly Hendrix. Lady Sinclair, CountRockuLA

ARTISTS
Emily Altoon, Cara Faye Earl, Aly Kourouma, & Richard Taylor

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Sarah Fretwell, Mark Edward Harris, Gautam Prashad

RSVP to 310.477.5540 or losangelesnetwork@hrw.org

SPONSORS

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