We Can and WDC
"The award I accept today belongs not so much to me as to my colleagues who steadfastly help multitudes of women find a better life – one free of fear and violence." These were Pearl Stephen’s words when she was honoured with the ZONTA award for two decades of tireless work to help women in distress in Sri Lanka.
Sixty-four-year old Pearl Stephen is the founder and coordinator of Women’s Development Centre (WDC), an organisation that works for the welfare of women. Situated in Kandy in central Sri Lanka, 120 kilometres from Colombo, it has a staff of 150 today; 95 per cent of whom are women. Most of these women have suffered some kind of violence.
The WDC offices are at present spread all over the centre, north and east of the country. It has managed to effectively network with the government, communities and a variety of organisations to support its efforts and also to step up the reach and impact of its work.
The story of how WDC came into being is fascinating. Pearl’s efforts to help women began early. She began working with women and addressing their problems soon after she took a training course for trainers with UNICEF. Her friend Annie Kurian soon teamed up with her.
"I have always wanted to make a difference to the lives of people. My mother was my source of inspiration. Looking at the agony she suffered, I decided I would never let a man dominate my life," says Pearl Stephen.
Pearl’s husband worked with the Church. To be useful to the community, at first she decided to help women of the Presbyterian Church and Augusta Tea Estate enhance their income so that they could become equal partners in a family.
However, she was appalled with the violence they suffered in their homes. She accommodated the first woman who approached her for help in her own home. This made her realise that her efforts to help women would be inadequate if she did not have a plan at hand.
In 1984, she set up the first shelter for women-victims of domestic violence in Kandy. She kept increasing the shelters as the number of women seeking help from violent partners grew. Now the WDC shelters provide a roof to around 90 survivors and the police and the judiciary regularly send victims to these shelters.
But the inmates of WDC shelters have had to face ordeals here as well. They are harassed as terrorists or as having links with terrorists because of the separatist movement. This insensitivity bothers Pearl.
"Women’s issues are not a priority either for the police or the judiciary," she laments. She cites the example of a survivor of mass rape whose case has been pending for 15 years. "We have to see that this does not happen."
To fight such trends, WDC has very consciously chosen its objectives to be prevention, intervention and advocacy.
To achieve them, Pearl experiments with unique ideas. This year, the WDC organised an imaginative event titled ‘Peace Thru Food Culture’. Women from all four corners of the country gathered together to present their culinary skills.
"Food signifies peace in a family and also bridges gaps between communities. We meant to bring men and women together through the food fiesta. In the process, we also discovered that drumstick can be cooked in 14 different ways," says a bemused Pearl.
This is one among many brave ideas of WDC. But the struggle is far from over. After relentless work, Pearl now wants to hand over the work of the organisation to those who are actively involved in it. "I am now delegating work and training people to take over as I want to take a back seat," she says. "But I know I cannot really retire while women continue to suffer indignity."