Open
The JAR A Project Documentation
“Open The Jar”
is a documentation of a project done at the Hochschule Hannover and the Frauennotruf Hannover at the Winter Exchange Semester 2012-13.
Typeset in Delicious and Delicious Caps All Images and Copy by Shreya Chakravarty © Shreya Chakravarty, 2013
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“Don’t judge yourself by what others did to you.” ~ C. Kennedy, Omorphi
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In the hope, that someday that women are not just heard, but understood as well.
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Index
Introduction 6 Research & Problem Analysis 14 The Concepts 16 Building The Idea 18 Process 20 Detailed Working 26 The Finale 30 Taking It Ahead 34 Project Learning and Experience 35 Sincere gratitude 35
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Introduction Wahlangebot
The Hoschule Hannover offers courses under a title called ‘Wahlangebot’. The term literally means ‘choosing something on a sale’. This is purely a gathered inference. It allows students across various faculties in the University to choose the courses they like. The courses are art based courses that are offered to encourage students to take up what interests them. The registration for courses is first come first served and is done over a specified period of time. The number of courses depends on the credits, each student is allowed a maximum of 12 credits, so one could choose 3 courses of 4 credits each, or 2 courses of 6 credits each. An introductory session of the various courses offered (in German) was organised which helped students understand what the course details would be and who would be handling them. Being International Exchange Students, we got the liberty to join how many ever courses we liked, even if we couldnt make it for the registration or crossed the required credits. The experience of trying to get your course was quite interesting, because at the clock of midnight, enthusiastic FHH students rushed to their systems to get a hold of their selected courses.
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“Weil Leben mehr als Gestern ist” ~Frauennotruf Hannover “Life Is More Than Just Yesterday” ~ The Women Emergency Helpline, Hannover Titled as above, the course seemed very interesting. The coordinator of the course Ms Dorothee Weinlich introdcuded and explained what the course dealt with and what would it mean for someone to join the course. Since I was an International Student, she said that would personally help me understand the context and would also translate important things throughout the module.
Frauennotruf Hannover Meeting the officials of the FNT (H)
The Frauennotruf Hannover (FNT) is an organisation that counsels women and girls who have gone through sexual violence and abuse and are victims of trauma that is caused to them. The organisation works as an advisory and counselling body for those affected. It also caters to professionals and caregivers. Established in 1988, the organisation is a registered as a charity and active in Hannover, Germany. A three membered team consisting of trained psychologists and therapists handle the entire functioning of the organisation. There are also board members and volunteers who work with the helpline. The Helpline follows certain principles and guidelines that define who they are and what they do. They believe in establishing anonymity to all the women who come to them and give immediate aid. They also provide opportunities and tips for the the victims to help themselves, that is, they help people help themselves. The Frauennotruf was celebrating its 25th Anniversary and the officials were looking to have an exhibition at the State Public Library, displaying works that would talk about the main issue of Sexual and Domestic Violence as a campaign for the woman and what she goes through. It was themed Life Is More Than Just Yesterday and we students of the HS Hannover, could take it up any way we’d like. There was a complete sense of freedom given to us in terms of what we wanted to show and how we wanted to show it.
To explain what the organisation does and get a clearer picture of what was in the course, a one-on-one interactive session was organised with one of the team members of the organisation, Ms. Gabi Kuhl-Himstedt, who is an active volunteer and handles a lot of work at the FNT. Her presentation was a talk, where she explained what exactly they do and how they do it. She shared with us experiences of the victims as well as her own. Speaking to us with great emotion yet confidence, she also shared what all inferences they had gathered over the years through the persons they interacted with. Some material was also given to us, in the form of brochures and other printed collaterals that they use in the organisation.
Understanding The Actual Subject Matter After speaking to Gabi Kuhl-Himstedt from the FNT, it was critical for me to understand what she was trying to convey and exactly I was to do and what was expected of me to do. Since the project was purely individual, its was important to understand the entire objective of the project. I was helped by Ms Weinlich through translations and discussions about the issue, the matters of concern to be approached and if there were any particular requirements.
Class discussions Throughout the entire course, we had a lot of discussions within the class, where we expressed not only what we were doing / thinking for the project but also talked about our concerns, what we felt about an issue like this, whatever that was being done to curb it-was it enough or not, how things were at at an international level and also tried ti discuss how traumatising the such experiences would be. Needless to say, the seriousness of the issue as well as theme we were working on, did affect all of us at some point.
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Ms. Gabi Kuhl-Himstedt of the Frauennotruf
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Students and Ms Gabi interacts at the Hochscule Hannover
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CLass Exercises
Expressions An array of exercises were done in the class to help us visually express what we felt . Ms Weinlich conducted these exercises throughout the course and asked to explain and reflect upon whatever we did.
Sheets to paper were rolled out for us and Ms Weinlich would say a word/feeling and we needed to express what we were feeling through ink and pens. We could do anything we like, express however we felt. It was hugely helpful in terms of visual expression, she also advised for us to try it indiviually in our own homes to see what results come out of it.
Butterbrot Papier We were all given one whole roll of butter bread paper and were asked to do anything we’ll like on it, that could express how we felt about the issue, or if we would like to share a story through the roll. We could explore the material itself, crush it, tare it, stitch it, do about anything to convey the feeling. We were given enough extra material and tools to help us. Things like stamps, rollers, leaves, cloth, papers, thread were all provided and added huge amounts of depth to the output.
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An array of exercises were done in the class to help us visually express what we felt . Ms Weinlich conducted these exercises throughout the course and asked to explain and reflect upon whatever we did.
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Research & Problem Analysis The Past & The Present
Women in Germany were always associated with traditional jobs of the house, looking after the children and being part of society as caregivers. The years of the World War II (1914-1919 ) changed a lot for women in that era. They took up the traditional roles of men and helped in rebuilding a war torn Germany. Post the war, women in East Germany formed the basic workforce and worked outside of home. They were supported by the Government in terms of policies for working, education and healthcare. This was also because most men fled to West Germany at that time. Women in West Germany, however, did not enjoy employment opportunities and stuck to traditional jobs of homemaking and being mothers. At that time, policies of employment and social welfare remained predicated towards the males. However, in the 1970’s a movement began from within and the women demanded for change. The law guaranteed them equal rights in marriage, the freedom to work from outside home and also file for divorce with permission of the husband. The suppression of women had hence broken. The demands they asked for had been met with. In a United Germany, women gained a lot but the discrimination remained. In terms of employment opportunities women enjoyed their rights, but they were still not treated with the equality and respect.
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The course was such that a lot of importance was given to the process of problem understanding from the current context, rather than the reading up on a lot of material. My attempt therefore remained to be able to understand the context, keeping in mind the history. A lot of my research about women in the present came from observing women, their habits and characteristics around me. It was through these observations that I was able to make a lot of inferences and think of possible means of communication. I was also fortunate to be able to talk to a lot of women in the environment around me and have long conversations about various things under the sun. I spoke to classmates, faculty, people around me and tried to get as much information from them.
A statue at the AegidienKirche Hannover Open The Jar // 15
View from the church at Hameln Open The Jar // 16
The Concepts After long discussions and thinking out what exactly to do, I worked backwards and looked on what was the problem I wanted to focus on. Based on these problems, I built three concepts supported by my research, reading, observations and inferences I had gathered.
What was the problem to be addressed? Being heard or rather not being heard. Women everywhere want to be heard. Especially when they are in pain, are hurt and want to share their stories and experiences with someone, somehow. What they needed was an outlet. More so anonymously.
Women feel suffocated and uncomfortable when they are unable to let out what they want to say. A woman feels like she is a closed jar who has a lot to share but are unable to do so because they don’t have a medium to do so. They aren’t heard. Women need to heard, they need a channel or a medium to do so. Something that they are comfortable with and also kept anonymous.
Ms Anja Steckling To assist all students with their individual projects as well as look at logistics for the exhibition, Ms Anja Steckling entered the picture. Highly enthusiastic and very helpful, Ms Anja was a guiding factor in many decisions I took and helped me tremendously throughout the entire course of the project.
Feedback Based Working Ms Weinlich insisted that we work as a class and discuss our progress every week with the rest of the class. It was at this time that a lot of discussions and feedback happened. Ideas struck, stayed on and were upon during these times. It was here that I was able to understand a lot of the context I was working in and the what students actually thought of it. Their ideas and feedback was inspiring and motivating to carry on working.
It has also been said that it takes a child 7 people to actually approach before s/he is believed. When a child is abused, nobody believes him/her and the child finds its increasingly difficult to talk to someone. The truth about child abuse is this. They are never believed and usually asked to keep quiet. That is what they end up doing too. It is a rather difficult situation for the child because not being believed makes him more Whats required more than anything else (at this point) is to make one aware of this glaring fact.
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Process
The course was designed in such a way that one had to carry forward and execute the idea they had initially conceptualised and stick to it. It was here that I decided to stick to my two concepts, and carry them forward in a manner that was possible at that point. Looking at traditional forms of visual communication, I explored the idea of making posters for the issue to be addressed. A series of posters that would ideally communicate the crux of the issue, perhaps both could be looked at together or as separate campaigns. I started building ideas and visual representations for both the concepts for a poster series. The more thought I gave the project, the more it made me realise that the medium needs to be provided for it. Another option was to look at tactile ways to represent an idea or someway to approach it. Something that could be tangible and understandable at one go and look. As the course progressed, we got more involved with various discussions and exercises with each other in the class and with Ms. Weinlich. During the course, we even got a lecture session from a psychologist at Hannover, who explained to us the plight of such patients. She also brought to notice the approaches that we should or shouldn’t take in our campaign. With the evolution of thoughts, the problem and approach began to get clearer. There was also a classification of thoughts that evolved.
Final Problem Identification and Way Foward Earlier, the problem identification was still blurry with proper feedback and exploration of ideas, it was clear. I wanted to concentrate on providing some medium that allowed women to share their stories and their experiences and feel liberated of all that was stuffed within them. I decided to work on a forum that allowed women to share all that they had buried inside of them. The first consideration was to setup a website and make it go live before the exhibition began. However, the idea was scrapped keeping in mind the tight timeframe as well as the technical issues that may creep up. Also, the exhibition would be on display and would require persons to interact with it and look at it, more than anything else. By now I had decided that it would be ideal if there was something live that happened, more like an installation of the issue. A senior from the Masters course, Ana, helped me flesh out this idea by giving me various ideas.
Eureka Moment- Open The Jar It finally clicked. An installation that stored womens’ stories in jars. When one ‘opens’ the jar, one hears the story or a part of it. Metaphorically, it would say a lot. A women is like a jar, with all her stories stored and bottled up inside of her. An attempt to open the jar would be an attempt to listen to her story that she has inside of her. The story is within her all the time and whenever one opens the jar, they give her the chance to tell her story or a part of it.
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Initial Conceptualisation Open The Jar // 20
Building The Idea
How It Would Work and Look Audio recordings of the stories would be placed in authentic local kitchen jars. They could vary in their appearances and sizes. Ideally, there could be a row of jars and selected one would have stories in them. The stories would have to be recorded and placed inside the jar through an audible channel, such as a speaker. These audio clippings would ideally be recorded in more than one language so that the audience that it caters to would be less limited.
Fleshing Out Details Open the Jar now had to be built with the details in place. There were some basic things that I needed to figure out myself before starting the final installation. Some important considerations were worked upon (as detailed further) and the final process was getting everything together began. The entire installation’s process was such that things had to happen simultaneously, the finer details that is.
* The Stories * I had to sift through a lot of stories and experiences of women from all over the world. I found these stories all around me, online, in books, in real experiences, everywhere. I joined many organisations and forums that discussed them. I was advised to keep them anonymous not share any details, and edit lines that may hold actual The idea was to not tell the stories explicitly with details that might scare someone, but really explain the situtation and the context, more importantly. After reading through a lot of them, I narrowed down to two experiences, one in the form of a narrated story and the other in the form of a poem. The first story was an actual experience shared at an available forum that discusses issues of women actively. The poem came from the Frauenotruf itself and was composed by one of the victims present. The reason I
chose these two is because of the versatility and the contrasts they offere in terms of origin and tone. One was about overcoming the traumatic experience and the second one spoke of pain and shame because of the unfortunate experience.
* Medium of Storytelling * The next point to consider was the medium that the stories would be audible to the audience. Since the project was for the Frauennotruf, German had to be one of the languages. Since there were a lot of International students in the course as well as the University, the second language chosen was English. The story was in English and the poem in German, so what needed to be done was translate them into the other language. This would enable that anyone who spoke or understood either of the two languages would easily understand the stories being said.
* Translations * The next step was to translate the texts and get them in order. This was crucial because the translations that to be correct and have the same tone as the original, especially the poem. I struggled to get help with translations from my classmates and almost anyone who could understang German, I was not successful. Finally, Ms Anja came to my rescue and translated the passage into German. For the poem, Ms Weinlich got me in touch with her partner, who was fluent in both languages. He translated the poem beautifully and very promptly too.
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Selected Story (english)
HEAR
The STORY “
What I'm about to say is taboo to talk about in the community, which refers to families that migrated. I'm sharing my story to let someone else know that they're not alone. My family looked like anyone else on the outside. We were educated, lived in the suburbs. I was sent to the best schools. We were kind, cordial and treated everyone like a family member. Little did people know what was going on behind closed doors. I'm almost 30 and now live on my own. I escaped my hellish household at age 25 with the help of a that saved my life. If it wasn't for her, I would have been dead. I'm happy with my own apartment, a good job, friends that respect me, and not having to worry about being raped, violated or bearing the brunt of emotional abuse. My mom and my ex-boyfriend had tried to sabotage my efforts to leave the home. They told me I wasn't able to live on my own and that I had no skills, but they were wrong. Living on my own is much easier than putting up with their garbage. To another woman or man going through the same thing, I hear you. Don't let anyone tell you that "Good girls or boys are supposed to do as they told" or "Your culture is about treating your parents like a God."
There's no excuse for parents to abuse their children. -JL
Open
The JAR
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Selected Story (german)
Hore die Geschichte
Was ich erzählen werde ist ein Tabu bei den Menschen mit denen ich zu tun habe und wo ich lebe, unter Menschen, die vor allem eines verbindet, sie sind aus einem anderen Land hier hergezogen. Ich erzähle meine Geschichte, damit andere wissen, dass sie nicht allein sind. Nach aussen schien ich in einer normalen Familie zu leben. Nach aussen zählten wir zur Mittelklasse, wohnten in einer guten Wohngegend, besuchten die besten Schulen. Wir waren nett, herzlich und behandelten Andere so offen und vertraut als gehörten sie zur Familie. Was hinter dieser Fassade vor sich ging bekam praktisch niemand mit. Jetzt bin ich fast 30 und lebe für mich allein. Ich entkam meinem katastrophalen Heim als ich 25 war, durch die Hilfe einer Person ohne die ich nicht überlebt hätte. Ich bin froh in einer eigenen Wohnung zu wohnen, einen guten Job zu haben, Freunde die mich respektieren und dass ich keine Angst haben muss missbraucht und vergewaltigt zu werden oder das Äusserste an emotionalem Missbrauch zu erfahren. Meine Mutter und mein Exfreund hatten versucht zu verhindern dass ich ausziehe. Sie sagten mir dass ich nicht allein leben könne und dass ich ja nichts gelernt hätte, sie haben sich vertan. Alleine zu leben ist viel einfacher als ihren Mist zu ertragen.An die andere Frau oder den anderer Mann die ihr die gleiche Tortur durchmacht. Lasse Dir von niemand einreden : „brave Mädchen oder Jungs sollen das tun , was man ihnen sagt“ oder dass „in Deiner Kultur Deine Eltern wie Götter behandelt werden.“ Es gibt keine Entschuldigung für Eltern, die ihre Kinder missbrauchen.
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The JAR
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Selected Poem (German)
Hore die Geschichte
Ich schäme mich Ich fühle mich schuldig Was habe ich getan, das es passiert ist Warum ist es gerade mir passiert Bei Strafanzeige: ich weiß nicht, was auf mich zukommt – ich habe Angst Symptome: bin ich verrückt Ich will nur meine Ruhe Ich will, dass es aufhört (Symptome) Ich erlebe ein gefühlsmäßiges Chaos, ein Achterbahnfahren Es ist nichts mehr, wie es einmal war Wann hört es auf, wie lange muss ich noch leiden Warum ist es gerade mir passiert Was habe ich falsch gemacht, hätte ich es wissen sollen, wenn ich bloß…, wäre ich bloß…. Es darf niemand wissen Alle sehen es mir an – ich trage ein Kainsmal am Kopf Keiner versteht, wie es mir wirklich geht Das geht schon vorbei, ich verdränge es einfach Ich habe das Lachen verlernt Mein Körper ekelt mich an. Ich kann keine Grenzen setzen. Ich denke immer, ich würde verrückt.
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Selected Poem (English)
HEAR
The STORY
I am ashamed I feel guilty What have I done that this happened Why did it happen to me If I go to court: I have no idea what will happen – I am afraid I feel crazy I just want to be left in peace I want it it to stop (symptoms) I am experiencing an emotional chaos, a roller-coaster nothing is like it was when will it stop, how much longer do I have to suffer why me What did I do wrong, should I have known, if I only..., if had I only... nobody should know this everyone can tell – I am wearing kains mark on the head nobody understands how I really feel this will pass, I simply suppress it I lost my ability to laugh My body disgusts me I cannot set boundaries I always think I would go crazy
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The JAR
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Detailed Working
* Sourcing of Jars* Open the Jar required many a jar. My hunt for jars began quite early into the process of finalising on the project. The idea of using an actual jar excited me to the core and my visual referencing for German/ European jars lead to more than just jar hunting. I visited flea markers, second hand stores, crockery stores and even sent out a poster requesting for jar contributions. By the end of it, I didn’t just have some jars, I had a whole collection of them. Since I wanted authenticity in the entire installation, I decided to leave them as they were, chipped off in areas, dirty, worn out or cracked. It added a lot of metaphors within that.
* Recording *
To get the idea to be successful, I had to make sure that the recording was done in a clear manner, with authentic pronounciation and correct reading. I also needed to make sure that it was read with feeling and emotion. As though, someone was talking in the moment and being very natural. I got some expert technical advise and guidance from Mr Andre Alder of the Media department of the University. He assisted me with recording and editing of the sound clips as well. An HD Audio Recorder from the University was sanctioned and over a period of two weeks, I could record as well as edit the story and poem. After a test recording with my own voice, we were good to go. For the German recordings, I initially sought the help of my classmates but there was no one who could do it within that timeframe. Ms Weinlich agreed to record for me in German. For the English ones I contacted two friends of mine, Anastasia and Sia, both fluent speakers of English. Anastasia is originally from Russia and Sia is Scottish, also an Exchange Student like me. Anastasia’s recording was soft and slightly fast but had a lot of emotion and feeling in it. Sia’s recording was loud, clear and crisp. Her accent also helped a non-native speaker comprehend the story and poem better. We next worked on editing the sound clippings. Increase of volume, reducing the background score, and some other technical things were done. The recordings were finally complete.
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* The Earphones As Speakers *
While the story selection and recording procedure was on, it was essential that a way was figured out of how the clips would be audible. After trying various different sound equipments like in built speakers on recorders and various kinds of speakers, Ms Dorothee and I settled to use headphones as speakers. Trial runs with these were successful and we froze upon this way of sound. To play the recordings, we would need players and we unanimously decided that new mp3 players would be the best idea. They could also be reused by the department once the exhibition was over.
* Collaterals for Support * To support the installation with some sort of explanation material/ giveaway, I thought it would be good to work on posters that would guide the audience to the installation. We then decided against it, because the given location may not have enough place to put them up all together. PlayCards were the chosen collaterals, which were basically thick cards of of playing card dimensions that would hold some details and text about the idea and the context. They were designed with a simple photograph and a write up of the project (in English).
* Setting Up the Installation * The final installation was to be setup in the Stadt Bibliothek Hannover (State Library Hannover). Keeping in mind the varied audience and the space that would be available, we decided to place the jars on low lying tables, which would enable people to interact with the jars. The mp3 players and earphones needed to be covered with a material and some steel wool that would not let the sound escape. I was helped by Ms Anja and Mr Juergen with this.
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Various Stages of The Process Open The Jar // 28
Ms Weinlich, recording
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The Finale
Open The Jar- Hear The Story The Final Installation Since I was not going to be there for the final exhibition, Ms Weinlich asked me to put it all together for a demo for her as well as some others. From there on, the students of the class would set it up in my absence. The final day was very exciting. The jars were arranged like would be for the final, the sound clips were fed into the mp3 players and attached to the earphones. It was all set. The jars, with their sounds playing was intriguing. There was a faint mumble of the sound clips but it wasn’t clear or audible. One needed to come to the jar, try and open it and then listen to it. A live recording of the installation was done for documentation purposes as well. Ms Weinlich and Ms Anja were kind enough to share their feedback at this point.
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“Weil Leben Mehr Als Gestern Ist” - an exhibition The exhibition went public for two weeks in early April 2013 at the State Library Hannover, as part of the Frauennotruf’s 25 year anniversary celebration. It was well recieved by everyone, including members of the Helpline. The exhibition was then displayed at the Hochscule Hannover and the entire student and faculty were invited to view it. It was very kind of Ms Weinlich to send me an email with pictures of the Exhibition and a note that read : “thank you Shreya, the exhibition was a great success and it is going on a tour through die 5 faculties of the University. your work is one of the most interessting parts.”
Open The Jar- A Video Presentation Since I was not present at the exhibition, I recorded a video and edited it to explain the concept better. The video can be viewed here https://vimeo.com/68558082
the Final Installation Open The Jar // 31
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the Final Installation At the Exhibition Open The Jar // 33
Taking It Ahead
The exhibition ended but I intend taking it forward by creating a forum for women to express themselves and not feel guilty about it. If talking about a bad experience gives them some relief and helps them get over their sorrows, then why not provide such a platform for them? Spreading the word, through active participation across areas is also an idea I have in mind. There are projects that do something similar and working on those lines could also be looked at right now.
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Project Learning and Experience
Open the Jar was a project that made me think keenly and for a party that is not represented much. It also gave me an clear cut way of thinking for a particular purpose, in this case, the exhibition.
Sincere gratitude
Dorothee Weinlich Anja Steckling Andre Alder
I also learnt that sometimes changing the medium of communication can produce wonders. Looking at tangible solutions can add a lot of value to something.
Ana Shishir
A project that I enjoyed being part of and I hope that it helps someone, somewhere, someday, to speak out and let go of their pain.
Anastasia Eggers
Sia Smith
Juergen Scholz Ms. Dorothee’s Partner Damini Purkayastha Rajesh Sriram, Sandesh Gavade & Srikanth Varma Aditya Gautam All attendees of the course Women who shared their stories and give me all the inspiration My parents, family and friends and all those supported me
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Open
The JAR A Project Documentation