VOA慢速英语2015 孟加拉国正努力停止针对妇女和女童的暴力

AS IT IS 2015-06-05 Working to End Violence Against Women, Girls in Bangladesh 孟加拉国正努力停止针对妇女和女童的暴力

In Bangladesh, domestic violence is a serious problem for women and girls who live in poverty. These women and girls are beaten or attacked in the one place they should feel safe -- their homes. It is difficult to change this situation because of deep-rooted customs. But a group of non-profit organizations is working to bring change to thousands of the country's poor.

在孟加拉，家庭暴力是一些贫困家庭中的女性所面临的严重问题。孟加拉的女性在她们本应该感到温暖和安全的家中却受到殴打。而且，由于根深蒂固的传统观念，这种情况却很难被改变。一群非营利组织正在国家的数千户贫困家庭中进行工作，企图改变这种状况。

In a slum area of Dhaka, 10 people sit in a narrow street between small homes. Women with colorful shawls on their heads sit next to four men. They listen as two health workers, both women, talk about birth control methods and diseases passed through sex. The health workers also show photographs of how the diseases affect the body.

位于Dhaka的贫民区，10个人坐在两排小房子之间的窄街上。女人们在头上披着颜色鲜艳的头巾，坐在另外4个男人旁边。他们在听取两名女性健康义工讲授健康知识，内容包括控制生育的方法和如何避免感染性病。健康义工向他们展示了这些疾病如何影响人的身体的一些照片。

Shokhi, making a difference

Shokhi创造不同。

The surprisingly open discussions are part of a program called "Shokhi." Its goals are to improve health and reduce domestic and sexual violence in 15 slums in Dhaka. Shokhi is a project of several non-profit organizations. It offers legal advice and health services. Women can find these services in small offices throughout 15 neighborhoods. The program also offers counseling services and community information meetings. At those gatherings 1, people can learn about subjects like conflict resolution and how to control anger.

这场别开生面的公开讨论也是项目的一部分，叫做“Shokhi”。它的目的是增加Dhaka地区15个贫民区人们的健康知识以及减少家庭和性暴力。Shokhi是由几家非营利组织联合举办的一项活动。它主要是提供一些法律建议和健康服务。在15个区域，女性都可以找到提供相关服务的办公室。项目也提供咨询和举办社会信息交流会。通过这些，人们可以了解到化解冲突的办法以及如何遏制愤怒。

Community ambassadors

村庄大使

The people taking part in the Shokhi program all volunteered to be "change makers 2." They talk with small groups in their communities about ending violence against women. There are about 1,500 of these change makers. They received training from about 45 professional community workers.

所有参加Shokhi项目的志愿者都是“改变者”。他们向他们镇上的小团体宣传停止对女性施加暴力。大约有1500名志愿者。他们从45名专业社区员接受过训练。

Rashida Begum is a 32-year-old tailor, making and repairing clothing for other people. She became a change maker 3 more than a year ago. Years ago, she said, her husband often hit her. But after attending Shokhi's programs, her husband has not hit her in a year.

Rashida Begum是一名32岁的裁缝。她在一年多前成为志愿者，她表示：她的丈夫经常殴打她，但是在她参加shokhi项目之后，一年前她的丈夫就停止了这种行为。

"Before, if anything happened in the home, he got very angry at me and would beat me. Now, he's working with this group and getting a lot of information, that you shouldn't do this," she said.

“在这之前，如果家中发生任何事情，他都会迁怒于我，并且会打我。现在，他和小组一起工作，认识到了他其实不应该这么做。”她说。

Another important step for Ms. Begum was learning about her legal rights. She had her husband arrested after he illegally married a second wife. Later, he ended that marriage and returned to Ms. Begum and her family.

Begum迈出的另外重要一步是她知道了自己的合法权益。她的丈夫此前因为重婚罪被捕。之后，她的丈夫结束了不合法婚姻，重新回到真正家庭的怀抱。

In Bangladesh, violence against women is widespread, even in their own homes. Physical and emotional abuse by husbands is common among the poor.

在孟加拉，对女性的家暴非常常见。而在穷人家庭中，来自丈夫的身体和心理更是尤为普遍。

In urban slums, women and girls suffer from high rates of violence and poor sexual and reproductive health. Girls who marry early have even more problems. Bangladesh has the world's fourth highest rate of child marriage. Here, 65 percent of young women marry before the age of 18.

在一些城镇地区的贫民窟，女性经常遭受暴力和性虐待的比例很高。早婚的女性遇到的问题更多。孟加拉是未成年人结婚比例最高的四个国家之一。大约有65%的女性在18岁之前结婚。

Changing behaviors

从行动上改变，

Through Shokhi, men and women are learning that abuse is unacceptable and illegal. In small group meetings, many women and girls are learning about their rights for the first time.

通过shokhi，人们知道了施虐的可耻性和不合法性。在一些小型聚会中，许多女性第一次了解到她们本应该享有的权利。

Sara Hossain is head of "Bangladesh Legal Services Trust," one of the organizers of Shokhi. She says that providing information is very important to her work.

Sara Hossain是“孟加拉法律服务中心”的主席，shokhi的发起人之一。她表示：传播有关知识对于展开她的工作非常有帮助。

"It's not just telling them you that you have a right not to be beaten, but where to go if this happens, what you can do, who will help you," she said.

“项目不仅仅是告诉她们你有权不受殴打，还要告诉她们如果家庭暴力真的发生了，她们应该去哪里，去找谁，谁会去帮助她们”

Three other nonprofit groups are involved with the program. "Marie Stopes Bangladesh" is a nonprofit organization that deals with women's reproductive health issues. "The Bangladeshi Women's Health Coalition 4" and "We Can" both work against domestic violence.

还有三个非营利组织也参与了项目。“Marie Stopes Bangladesh”是专门针对女性生产健康问题的非营利组织。"The Bangladeshi Women's Health Coalition" 和"We Can"都致力于反对家庭暴力。

Reducing violence, abuse

减少暴力和虐待

Shokhi is similar to an earlier program in Dhaka called SAFE. Some of the same nonprofit groups directed that program from 2012-2013.

Shokhi去此前在dhake进行的一个教SAFE的项目和相似。也是一些非营利慈善机构在2012到2013年之间举行的一个活动。

Population Council, a U.S. non-profit research center, and ICDDRB, a public health institute, looked at the results of SAFE. They studied more than 12,000 people in the program. They found that SAFE reduced violence against women and girls. When men were included in activities, there was even less violence.

PC是美国的一个非营利调查中心，ICDDRB是一个公共健康机构，他们共同来查看SAFE的结果。他们调查了参与项目的至少12000人。他们发现：SAFE的却减少了针对女性的暴力事件。当男人也参加这些活动时，暴力就根本不会发生了。

More people used birth control, and more victims of violence asked for help. Among teenage married girls, sexual and physical violence decreased.

更多的人开始计划生育，更多的家暴受害者出来寻求帮助。未成年结婚率、性暴力和家庭暴力都减少了。

People at the meetings say the sessions can make them feel stronger. One female change-maker said, "Public action is the best action. The police can't do it. Before, if something happened in the home next door, you ignored it. Now you can tell them, 'You can't do that.'"

参加会议的人都表示他们变得更加坚强。其中一位参加者说道“公众的行动才是最有效的行动，警察不能帮助我们，此前，如果在隔壁发生了暴力，你会装作没有听到。现在你会站出来，告诉他们‘你不能这么做’。”

Since the program started in 2013, it has directly given services and information to 10,000 people. It has reached tens of thousands more indirectly 5 through media campaigns and street theater. Shokhi aims to reach 500,000 people by 2018.

项目始于2013年，已经直接给10000人提供过服务和建议。而通过媒体和街道宣传间接的也有数万人受惠。Shokhi的目标是在2018年使受教育人数达到500000人。

Involving men in awareness 6 sessions and as change makers led to a greater reduction in violence. That finding comes from surveys of the earlier program in Dhaka. Male change makers lead about one third of the community groups.

包括让男人加入警醒会，以及在志愿者的帮助下，暴力事件得到了减少，dhaka地区早期项目的调查结果发现，有男性领导的志愿者占了三分之一的社区团体。

On a hot spring day, another group of 20 slum residents sat on the floor of a school in a slum area of Dhaka called Mohammadpur. Amid the women were five men. They were starting their three-day training to become change makers.

在一个炎热的春天，另一伙有20位贫民区居民组成的小组坐在dhake的Mohammadpur学校的地板上。除了女性还有5名男性，他们正在接受为其3天的志愿者培训。

Mahubab Alam is a 45-year-old night security guard. He attended the training during his off-duty hours. He explained why he volunteered to become a change maker. "We think we live in an undignified way. We have an opportunity to change this," he said.

Mahubab Alam是一名45岁的夜间保安。他在他执勤以外的时间参加培训。他向我们解释了他希望成为志愿者的原因：“我们认为我们活的不够尊严。现在，我们有机会去改变它了。”

It is not easy to stop violence against women and girls in Bangladesh. But Shokhi is raising hopes that change can happen, from the ground up.

虽然彻底终止孟加拉女性受到的家庭暴力并不是一件很容易的事。但是shokhi让我们看到了希望。

Words in This Story

domestic - adj. relating to or involving someone's home or family

slum - n. an area of a city where poor people live and the buildings are in bad condition

volunteer – n. a person who chooses to do something without being asked, usually without being paid

abuse – n. bad treatment causing harm or injury

reproductive - adj. relating to or involved in the production of babies