"I want you to stop hitting my mum."
Children engage in play-based activities at the REACH Family Centre
A girl stood up in a room full of adults in Vanuatu... and her father listened. Because of you, more families are finding their way to healing from domestic violence.
She was young and small compared to the room full of chiefs, community leaders, and family members. Her dad was amongst them. In most settings in Vanuatu, a child her age wouldn't dare to speak up, let alone be asked to.
But this wasn't most settings. It was the REACH Family Centre in Vanuatu.
She looked at her father and said the words she'd been carrying for a long time. "I want you to stop hitting my mum."
He listened and made a promise to his little girl that he would change.
The amazing work of this centre and the change that is happening in families for the better, is all made possible because of you.
The problem you're helping to solve
Vanuatu has some of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world. Sixty percent of women in intimate relationships have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner. Children witness it. They live with the trauma and its consequences.
For generations, the path to resolution has run through kastom, the traditional reconciliation ceremony. Kastom carries culture, community, and the authority of chiefs, but in this tradition, women often aren't believed. Children aren't present at all, even when the violence has happened to them or in front of them.
One woman who went through a kastom ceremony before finding the centre said she was accused of lying, so she stayed quiet, for years.
That was until your support helped build something different.
A safe place to speak the truth
The centre, backed by the New Zealand Government and the generosity of people like you, runs a Restorative Justice programme built around one idea: survivors deserve to be heard.
Restorative Justice, brings survivors of violence, the perpetrators, and family members into the same room. Not to perform reconciliation, but to tell the truth, to name the harm, ask for change and to begin healing.
It's grounded in the faith and culture of the people of Vanuatu. Prayer opens the conferences where chiefs and community leaders take part. But the facilitators are now trained to hold space for women and children in a way that kastom has not historically done before.
All of this positive change is because of people like you.
The stories of two women
The woman who was finally believed
For years, she'd tried to tell her story through kastom and for years, she'd been told she was lying.
When she came to the centre, the facilitators listened, her family members listened and for the first time, her words landed with everyone present.
"Here, I was heard and supported," she says.
And so began her healing journey.
The mother who found freedom
Some stories don't have the ending we'd wish for. One woman came to the centre grieving her daughter who had passed away because of violence.
The conference couldn't bring her daughter back - nothing could. But it gave her something else... freedom from grief.
"I am the mother of the girl who died, and everything that hurt me, I released it and now I am free."
Why the whole family matters
Healing one person in a family, whilst the rest of the family members are meant to cope on their own, rarely lasts. That's why the work being done with survivors at the centre is holistic. It wraps around the whole family.
There are three different programmes, each centred on mums, dads, and children. It's not a single intervention. It's a whole ecosystem of care and your support is what makes that ecosystem possible.
Thank you for believing that healing is possible, even in the hardest places. Thank you for being the reason this centre can do this work.
The good fight is worth fighting. And you're right here, fighting it.
Whawhaitia te whawhai pai (fight the good fight).
She was young and small compared to the room full of chiefs, community leaders, and family members. Her dad was amongst them. In most settings in Vanuatu, a child her age wouldn't dare to speak up, let alone be asked to.
But this wasn't most settings. It was the REACH Family Centre in Vanuatu.
She looked at her father and said the words she'd been carrying for a long time. "I want you to stop hitting my mum."
He listened and made a promise to his little girl that he would change.
The amazing work of this centre and the change that is happening in families for the better, is all made possible because of you.
The problem you're helping to solve
Vanuatu has some of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world. Sixty percent of women in intimate relationships have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner. Children witness it. They live with the trauma and its consequences.
For generations, the path to resolution has run through kastom, the traditional reconciliation ceremony. Kastom carries culture, community, and the authority of chiefs, but in this tradition, women often aren't believed. Children aren't present at all, even when the violence has happened to them or in front of them.
One woman who went through a kastom ceremony before finding the centre said she was accused of lying, so she stayed quiet, for years.
That was until your support helped build something different.
A safe place to speak the truth
The centre, backed by the New Zealand Government and the generosity of people like you, runs a Restorative Justice programme built around one idea: survivors deserve to be heard.
Restorative Justice, brings survivors of violence, the perpetrators, and family members into the same room. Not to perform reconciliation, but to tell the truth, to name the harm, ask for change and to begin healing.
It's grounded in the faith and culture of the people of Vanuatu. Prayer opens the conferences where chiefs and community leaders take part. But the facilitators are now trained to hold space for women and children in a way that kastom has not historically done before.
All of this positive change is because of people like you.
The stories of two women
The woman who was finally believed
For years, she'd tried to tell her story through kastom and for years, she'd been told she was lying.
When she came to the centre, the facilitators listened, her family members listened and for the first time, her words landed with everyone present.
"Here, I was heard and supported," she says.
And so began her healing journey.
The mother who found freedom
Some stories don't have the ending we'd wish for. One woman came to the centre grieving her daughter who had passed away because of violence.
The conference couldn't bring her daughter back - nothing could. But it gave her something else... freedom from grief.
"I am the mother of the girl who died, and everything that hurt me, I released it and now I am free."
Why the whole family matters
Healing one person in a family, whilst the rest of the family members are meant to cope on their own, rarely lasts. That's why the work being done with survivors at the centre is holistic. It wraps around the whole family.
There are three different programmes, each centred on mums, dads, and children. It's not a single intervention. It's a whole ecosystem of care and your support is what makes that ecosystem possible.
Thank you for believing that healing is possible, even in the hardest places. Thank you for being the reason this centre can do this work.
The good fight is worth fighting. And you're right here, fighting it.
Whawhaitia te whawhai pai (fight the good fight).