Jessica

This weekend the farm hosted, in addition to the regular crew, Elijah and Jessica. I had met Elijah before- he's the kind of guy that gets two thumbs up. Jessica is a new friend, and she gets three thumbs up. She's practically the best.

She's studied counselling. For a while she worked for an NGO that taught self defence and sex ed to girls in the slums, as well as provided rape counselling. I feel like if I reiterated some of the stories she told me, I'd be using them for shock value because some were so horrible that I don't think a blog entry can do them service in a summary. Most centred around a criminal justice system that allows victims to drop charges (which inevitably leads to bribing or blackmailing victims), the problems with no access to safe and legal abortion, and very very young prostitutes. Teaching self defence and advocating for rape victims are also pretty rocking things to do. The men from the slums started threatening her organisating. I guess that's a pretty clear indication of a job well done. One them four of them, all women, were walking alone and six men surrounded them, them physically attacked them. But Jessica and the 3 others put their self defence training to work and escaped unharmed. In fact, she said they beat the men up pretty badly. She told this story so nonchalantly. I also now have a refreshed appreciation for Canada's rape shield law. Look it up and thank Kim Campbell.

Overall, Jessica is one of the coolest, most hardworking feminists I've ever met. Unfortunately, that NGO folded due to mis-managed funds, but she still does self esteem counselling for girls. It's super sad that the program no longer exists, and she feels that if she just had somebody to come teach her how to train others, that she could continue the program on her own. We've traded emails, because I feel like I must must must know somebody that could visit her for just a few weeks and teach self defence. Jessica is now working with Elijah on an AIDS project, where she counsels people before they get their results. Her ultimate goal is to open her own children's home.