Iraqi domestic violence activists traveled to Camden on December 1 to meet with Finding Our Voices and discuss ideas on bringing safety and freedom to women in their home country. Finding Our Voices is the grassroots, survivor-led nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse across Maine. https://findingourvoices.net 
 
The 10 women’s rights leaders from Baghdad to Duhok in Kurdistan are on a three-week tour of the US through the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). They are meeting with activists, advocacy groups, and professionals in Maine, New York, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa to learn about best practices for preventing domestic violence and supporting and protecting victims.  
 
According to Mahmuda Alam of the World Affairs Council of Maine, the Iraqi activists were particularly interested in the Finding Our Voices peer support and public awareness campaigns centered around survivor stories. These campaigns include posters and bookmarks featuring photo portraits of 45 Maine survivors aged 18 to 83 including Governor Janet T. Mills, as well as a statewide “Let’s Talk About It” tour featuring survivor-led community conversations about domestic abuse. 
 
The nine Iraqi women and one man who are leading the charge in their country around the issue of domestic violence were accompanied by three Arabic interpreters and Allison Hodgkins, Portland-based executive director of the World Affairs Council of Maine. They met for three hours with Patrisha McLean and Mary Kamradt of Finding Our Voices around a table at the Camden Public Library. 
 
During the gathering, McLean, CEO/founder of the Camden-based and statewide nonprofit, described what the group does, as well as the challenges Maine domestic abuse victims face including the lack of meaningful sentencing for domestic abuse offenders. Then the Iraqi activists who had been selected for the tour by the US embassy in Iraq introduced themselves, their stories, and their work. 
 
One of the activists described how she had been abused as a teenager in a forced marriage and pulled back her bangs to show a scar from the violence. Another activist is devoted to supporting victims of female genital mutilation and shared how women sometimes condone the procedure for their adolescent daughters and granddaughters as revenge for having gone through it themselves. Achievements of the Iraqi activists who were gathered around a table with Finding Our Voices include furthering rights for victims of ISIS, providing domestic violence safe houses in Baghdad, and in the case of one lawyer, helping battered Iraqi women obtain over 400 positive judicial decisions.
 
McLean said, “It was eye-opening to learn that except for the more progressive Kurdistan region of the country, violence to wives is considered ‘disciplining’ in Iraq and is legal.  I was also glad to share with them the Power and Control Wheel, which was developed in Duluth, Minnesota in the 1980s and is a mainstay of our own domestic abuse awareness outreach, illustrating the tactics abusers use to get and keep control of their intimate partners. The meeting was beautiful in so many ways, including that we have decided to collaborate on a project together around the Power and Control Wheel when they return home!”
 
McLean added, “Another meaningful moment came a few days later when Allison Hodgkins of the World Affairs Council of Maine shared that during the group’s visit with Governor Janet T. Mills, they spotted Finding Our Voices bookmarks on the Governor’s desk.” 
 
In addition to bold awareness campaigns, Finding Our Voices provides a host of peer-support programs including a fund to empower women to get out and stay out of danger and keep their children safe as well; free and dignified dental care; online support groups; as well as yoga, horse farm, and writing healing retreats, and a fund to bring joy and comfort to children traumatized by domestic violence. For more information or to make a donation visit https://findingourvoices.net or contact McLean directly at 207 322 6460.