April 6, 2013 – Las Cruces, NM - On this edition of PUENTES, Emily Guerra bridges the community with Paty Hernandez, Secretary of The International Safe Shelter Foundation, and New Mexico State University graduate student, to talk about a global issue – domestic violence – unseen, unheard and unacceptable.
Based on surveys from around the world by Amnesty International, over $15 billion dollars are spent yearly on domestic abuse issues in the United States and abroad. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), 85% of victims are women. Historically they are victimized by someone they knew and never reported to the police.
The International Safe Shelter Foundation, a new non-profit organization, has been working to help a domestic violence shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Centro de Proteccíon “de Mujer a Mujer,” in Spanish it means a center of protection from woman to woman.
Hernandez says that despite facing increased violence in the city of Juarez, as well as occasional threats, the center is committed to providing a safe place for women and their children to be free from domestic violence.
The Foundation, in collaboration with the Mesilla Valley Film Society, will present a documentary about domestic violence in Latin America filmed in Nicaragua. The film, “The Day You Love Me”/”El Día Que Me Quieras,” will be presented with English subtitles on Saturday, April 13th from 4 to 6 P.M. at the Fountain Theatre, located at 2469 Calle de Guadalupe in Mesilla.
All money benefits the Centro de Proteccíon in Ciudad Juarez. Donations of toiletry items for women at the shelter will be gladly received at the theatre, as well as fabric pieces to make quilts and dolls. For more information visit their website at www.juarez-shelter.org .