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Fighting violence against women: what happens when an organisation fails to follow its values

This is the anonymised true story of the premature death of one women's organisation. Its experience is not unique, and we must do better.

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First class and priority tags.

First class travel and priority tags. PA Images/Steve Parsons. All rights reserved.

When Tendai* started Humura, an organisation fighting violence against women, she had passion but no financial resources, no staff, no office, no computer. As a young, first-year teacher, she had started a discussion group with students on issues of sex and sexuality and in the process identified many cases of sexual violence. She was determined to take action: other women should not suffer the way she did when, at the age of 16, she was raped by a close relative and had no one to tell.