After seventeen months of existence, Sleepless in Monrovia had her first in-person event. The first of a series titled “The Roundtable” was organised to provide a space where uncensored conversations on “taboo” topics can be had to inspire actions. The topic for this Roundtable 1.0 was “Prevalence of Sexual Assault in Liberia.”
The panelists for a SiM Roundtable are: i.) an expert well versed in the topic at hand ii.) author(s) of SiM with a published piece on the topic, and iii.) representative(s) from SiM’s administration.
Madam Bernice Freeman, a founding member of the Liberian Women Mass Action for Peace under the banner of the Women in Peace-building Network (WIPNET) was the invited expert. As the head of advocacy at the WANEP-WIPNET (West Africa Network for Peace-building), she is charged with leading a team of prosecutors of various are cases around Liberia.
Dounard Bondo, author of “Big Boy” and Suma Massaley, author of “Does Liberia have a Rape Culture” were the authors on the panel. Shari Raji, co-founder and CEO of SiM, was the facilitator of the conversation.
The Roundtable 1.0 was held at SMART Liberia and streamed Live on Facebook. In total, we had 675 people joining in the conversation for that event. It was fully sponsored by BLEECO and we’re sincerely grateful for that sponsorship.
The conversation was enlightening and engaging, and it inspired an action. One of the attendees pointed out that she wished this conversation was more common amongst children, and an idea was born. SiM fully agreed with the thought and decided to organise SGBV Awareness Seminars in schools across Liberia.
