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A story of women’s strength
NATIONAL COLLECTIVE OF
INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S REFUGES INC.
MEDIA RELEASE– 24 July 2009
A story of
women’s strength
Women’s Refuge says a new book released today tells a powerful story of women’s strength in adversity.
Women’s Refuge Chief Executive, Heather Henare, “I am delighted to support the publication of Pip Desmond’s book,Trust: A True Story of Women and Gangs,released by Random House today.”
She said, “Pip has written the stories of eleven women who participated the Aroha Trust, a work co-operative set up in Wellington in the 1970’s.”
She said, “These women stood together to take on, not only tough physical work, but some hard life challenges – gang backgrounds, racism, deprivation and social indifference. They stood up to Black Power back in the seventies and more recently, brought an historic claim to the Waitangi Tribunal for recognition of the damages suffered by Maori women within gang culture.”
Ms Henaresaid,“It has been a privilege to meet this amazing group of women, who have maintained contact and had the courage to tell their stories in this book.”
“I am very glad that they have recognised the importance of their story – it needed to be written and published and I think it will become an important document in the social history of Aotearoa.”
“I feel very connected to this project. From the early days of the Women’s Refuge movement, we were also crossing social, class and racial boundaries to reach out and support other women.”
“When you do that, you can be perceived as very threatening, so that what you do in love and from a position of strength, becomes something of a challenge. People don’t always understand and that is why it’s so important that women’s stories are told.”
“The story of the Aroha Trust women, their struggles, achievements, courage and activism is inspiring and I regard this book as a treasure. My hope is that it is read and valued as a tribute to the strength and solidarity of women against all odds.”
Women’s Refuge is New Zealand’s most
significant family violence organisation, with a 35 year
history of providing comprehensive services for women and
children
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