Malya Villard-Appolon, a finalist for the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year award, re-located to Haiti in 2010 after the disastrous 7.0 magnitude earthquake displaced 1.3 million people, took the lives of 316,000 and injured 300,000. While Haiti was not politically nor culturally a stranger to social injustice against women, the issues that plagued women such as violence and rape escaladed at a rapid pace due to the vulnerable environment that was created by the earthquake. The earthquake was an uncontrollable force that drastically altered the physical and social environment of the country, the result of which was a vulnerable environment for those who were already far too vulnerable. Villard-Appolon, a co-founder of the Haitian grassroots organization KOFAVIV—Commission for Women Victims for Victims, had been advocating for women’s rights in Haiti since the organization’s founding in 2004. As opposed to outsiders entering into a culture or becoming mere bystanders of the violence against women in Haiti, Villard-Appolon and other members of KOFAVIV consider themselves to be a part of this victimized group who struggle each day with the social injustice and violence that many women face today in Haiti. KOFAVIV is a peer-to-peer advocacy; women can support one another because they have lived and learned from similar experiences with violence, rape and other injustices.
“We were all victims; I was a victim. I swore that I would give support and services to other women who were victims but also that I would work so that there would be no more victims,” said Malya Villard-Appolon as she outlined her past in a recent interview with WNN – Women News Network.
In 2011, KOFAVIV and other international partners worked fervently to reform Haiti’s rape law which had become obsolete due to inconsistencies in the application and the overall slow process of sentencing rape crime. Villard-Appolon, KOFAVIV, and other partners have pushed for a new and
improved law that would provide “doable” human rights to women in Haiti. At the present time rape is arguably the largest issue that women face in Haiti, especially for those who still live in tent camps as Haiti struggles to rebuild after the earthquake. Malya Villard-Appolon is an incredible example of a former victim who has taken it upon herself to help other women that are victimized by rape and violence and to give them the support and strength that they need to not only move forward in their lives, but also quite frankly to survive. Villard-Appolon could live anywhere in the world; she could live in a place that is not plagued by regular cases of rape and violence or surrounded by an environment that still remains in shambles after a disastrous earthquake. Instead, she has chosen to live in the vulnerable environment of Haiti amidst the struggle in order to personally support and protect women who are in desperate need of help, and to push for new laws that grant women not only protection, but also human rights. Villard-Appolon is indeed a true hero whose efforts in Haiti will play a critical role in changing the world.
Information source: Women News Network. “Haiti’s CNN Hero finalist Mayla Villard-Appolon stil believes in women & change”Byline: Lys Anzia. <http://womennewsnetwork.net/2012/12/03/cnn-hero-finalist-malya-villard-appolon/>
“We were all victims; I was a victim. I swore that I would give support and services to other women who were victims but also that I would work so that there would be no more victims,” said Malya Villard-Appolon as she outlined her past in a recent interview with WNN – Women News Network.
In 2011, KOFAVIV and other international partners worked fervently to reform Haiti’s rape law which had become obsolete due to inconsistencies in the application and the overall slow process of sentencing rape crime. Villard-Appolon, KOFAVIV, and other partners have pushed for a new and
improved law that would provide “doable” human rights to women in Haiti. At the present time rape is arguably the largest issue that women face in Haiti, especially for those who still live in tent camps as Haiti struggles to rebuild after the earthquake. Malya Villard-Appolon is an incredible example of a former victim who has taken it upon herself to help other women that are victimized by rape and violence and to give them the support and strength that they need to not only move forward in their lives, but also quite frankly to survive. Villard-Appolon could live anywhere in the world; she could live in a place that is not plagued by regular cases of rape and violence or surrounded by an environment that still remains in shambles after a disastrous earthquake. Instead, she has chosen to live in the vulnerable environment of Haiti amidst the struggle in order to personally support and protect women who are in desperate need of help, and to push for new laws that grant women not only protection, but also human rights. Villard-Appolon is indeed a true hero whose efforts in Haiti will play a critical role in changing the world.
Information source: Women News Network. “Haiti’s CNN Hero finalist Mayla Villard-Appolon stil believes in women & change”Byline: Lys Anzia. <http://womennewsnetwork.net/2012/12/03/cnn-hero-finalist-malya-villard-appolon/>
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