Arizona/New Mexico Girls' Conferences

The first week of February was a constant roadtrip, but a roadtrip that I would make every week, given the opportunity to interact with these fantastic young women and presenters in Mesa, Tucson, Yuma and Albuquerque. At the Mesa conference, on Feb 1st, John and I had the opportunity to present our play, CONTROL.ASSAULT.DELETE to students from Tempe and Scottsdale. Two days later we were off to Tucson and presented to a hall full of energetic young women. Then we were fortunate to present to Yuma girls.

The article below is a synopsis of the two articles that appeared in the Yuma Sun the next day. What the writer (Mara Knaub) didn't see was the fantastic performance of Amber Norgaard, performer, from Tucson who has been a part of this conference for three years. Amber is a talented singer, musician, writer and all around role model for young women.

Submitted by FTH Intern, Julie Sullivan. Material taken from article in the Yuma Sun writer Mara Knaub - February 5, 2011

"I want you to know how precious you are;you can be anything your heart desires. Don't let anyone tell you anything different about yourself. Understand your worth, because you are all of divine worth."

These were the words spoken by Fix the Hurt founder, Linda King, that rang out across an audience of several dozen teenage girls at the Arizona Girls Conference in Yuma on February the 4th, 2011. "Be smart. Be safe. Don't be fooled by someone who says they love you but all they want to do is hurt you . . . "

Whether or not each individual girl had been affected directly by the hands of domestic violence themselves, what could be certain that Friday at the Ramada Chilton Conference Center was a distinct and captivating sense of hope and knowledge that prevailed throughout the demonstration. Yuman Melanie K, a Las Vegas singer, as well as a former survivor of domestic violence abuse, gave her moving story of batter and hope to the girls. "The first time he hit me, it was in front of friends. It was humilitating. But his excuse was that he had been drinking and he would never do it again," she said to the audience, who was then treated to a performance of two songs which she wrote about domestic violence abuse.

The organizer of the event, Paul Henry Danylewich, (of Fearless White Tiger - Montreal, Canada) described the goal of the Arizona Girls' Conference was to "empower young women with resources, help them recognize the different forms of violence and how to escape from abusive relationships." Danylwewich also noted that each girl should take away from the conference a sense that it is never the victim that should be blamed for domestic violence, but the perpetrator themselves. To incorporate this message into the demonstration, role-playing and story-telling were the main components of the conference. Various members of the audience were engaged in demonstrations, as well as told stories by the survivors themselves, in an extremely moving (oftentimes heart-wrenching) fashion.

"It was fascinating. I learned a lot. Anybody can be a predator. I feel more aware now." said Denise Orozoo, 15, who was an attendee of the conference. Essentially, this was the ultimate goal of the conference. Not necessarily to involve drastic change, but to instill within each attendee awareness - the awareness of their relationsips, the relationships of their friends, or even the most casual of acquaintances.

Thank you, Julie.