But I’m only little!

So yesterday, I posted about my dear friend Mira.  I’ve got her ring on today.  It’s catching my heart a little bit every time I look at it.

So one of my favourite proverbs ever is an African one.  It goes like this –

” “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never spent the night with a mosquito.”

You – you, where you are and in the situation you are, and with whatever strengths and weaknesses you have, can make a difference.  Not only can you, you have to.

Because let’s not be under any illusion here.  Yes, violence happens against men.  But the difference in scale is pheonomenal.  The World Health organisation estimates that worldwide, 35% of women have been the victim of intimate partner violence or non partner sexual violence against them.

35%.

To be honest, I can’t even concieve of the numbers that covers.

I’m one of them.

But it doesn’t have to be like this.

I wanted to highlight some of the incredible work worldwide to address this.  Because the truth is, you don’t have to be a politician, or even well connected, to make a difference.  You can start right here, right now.

So here’s the first organisation, that are crying out for people to get involved.  Restored, who you can find on http://www.restoredrelationships.org/, are an international Christian allianceworking to end violence against women.  They’re doing incredible work, particularly in speaking to churches and crucially, with their “First Man Standing” campaign, which aims to get men standing up and being counted, committing to being that man who will stand up for women and who will not be silent on this issue.  They’re crying out for more people to get involved – praying, advertising, campaigining.  It can be as simple as writing to your MP. 

These are big issues, and one person isn’t going to be able to tackle it.  But there’s not a force in the world that can resist millions of us standing up to be counted.

Mira lost her life, because she dared to stand up for herself in an environment dedicated to minimising everything she was, and everything she could be.  Her death, and the issues faced by so many across the globe, inspire me to keep shouting.  Because one day, if we all join in, the shout is going to bring injustice crashing down.