Project Safe Girls
the problem:
Unfortunately, the news has recently been dominated by instances of kidnapping, rape, and abuse. Although schools and universities require students to learn about physical education and art, schools do not equip students with basic life skills - especially the skill of safety. It is my goal to offer a safety awareness and self-defense course, Safe Girls, to middle school students across North Carolina and to make safety prevention courses a requirement for all educational facilities.
The Safe Girls pilot program will initially offered in Chapel Hill, NC and will shortly expand to Durham, NC. The need for a project that instructs young girls how to defend themselves is immense. According tot he North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, there were approximately 2,239 rapes in North Carolina in 2008. Of those rapes, 83% were committed without any weapons. Twenty-five percent of the rapes involved victims between the ages of 16 and 20, and 21.5% involved victims ages 11-15. For 2008, Orange County had the 27th worst record for rape out of 100 NC counties, and Durham had the 7th worst record. Overall in 2008 there were approximately 42,257 violent crimes in the state of North Carolina. These statistics are stunning. From my training I have self-defense knowledge that could save the life of a possible victim in the future. I would love to share my knowledge with these girls and make sure they understand that no one has the right to hurt them ever.
vital stats:
people impacted:
30people involved:
25why it's important:
I thought it would never happen to me. Throughout my life I heard stories on the news about escalating relationship violence and always pitied the victims. How did these women become entangled in such dangerous situations? Shouldn't they have been the warning signs? I thought these women were naive, and that if I was careful I would never find myself in a similar situation. I was wrong. On April 28th, 2009 I was assaulted on the UNC campus by my ex-boyfriend. I was petrified, unable to think, and consumed with fear. Frantically, I begged a bystander to walk me back to my dorm, but when my ex-boyfriend returned, the bystander just stood there and watched him push me, never offering to intervene. What gave this man the right to put his hands on me? And why did this bystander not offer assistance? I was angered, upset, and scared out of my mind. However, once I suddenly remembered that I knew how to defend myself, I was overwhelmed with confidence and able to push past the fear. I safely escaped the situation and reported the incident to police. My personal experience with assault has made me extremely passionate about teaching other young girls self-defense techniques. As a certified Black Belt, I have trained in Taekwondo for over ten years and possess knowledge that can help protect young women.
The main goal of Project Safe Girls is to teach young girls how to avoid unsafe situations. Through this program, girls will learn the basics of awareness and safety prevention, boundary setting, the different types of predators, gender roles and stereotypes, emotional and physical abuse, self-defense, and more! After completion of this program, girls will feel more confident in their abilities to use self-defense techniques and will hopefully have a better understanding of how to remain safe.
the plan of action:
Safe Girls will operate as a pilot program from January 2010 to May 2010 at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA as part of the middle school afterschool program. At the end of May, the young girls will have a chance to showcase their new safety and self-defense skills at the Safe Girls Commencement in front of parents and friends. Safe Girls is a partnership with the Realistic Female Self-Defense Company and is also supported by the Chapel Hill Police Department and the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.
Currently, Safe Girls is constructing a curriculum and putting together binders with important information for all participants. We are also creating a training program for all volunteer instructors and cannot wait to begin teaching actual program content in January!
Safe Girls has received a great response from volunteers thus far and we are excited to have an impact on the lives of these young girls.
how you can get involved:
In the future we would like to offer Safe Girls across the state of North Carolina and eventually nationwide. If you are interested in getting a Safe Girls program started at your school or community please email safegirlsnc@gmail.com.
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