Anisha Kanishaa
Advocate against sexual violence. :: April 2019
Like Sullivan Ballou, your story is about someone who has followed her heart. You suffered through some very personal traumatic experiences early in your college career. You appreciated the support of the community of other survivors, but were saddened by its size. In instead of succumbing to bitterness, self-blame, and depression, you explored the sources and effects of your experiences. You began to realize there was much to be done to protect other women, particularly in your native country of India. In India there is not only an aversion to sex education and violence prevention programming, but there is not even a single crisis helpline for victims of sexual violence.
There is much to be done, and you have set about doing it. You have been researching crisis helplines in the U.S. and are planning to soon take the 40 hour training required to become a licensed crisis counselor in Minnesota. And you will be spending the next academic year in India partnering with an NGO to implement your plan for a crisis helpline. This is alchemy, Anishaa, turning lead into gold.
As you make your plans, you have been playing an active role here to address the issues that you are passionate about. You have taken the lead in student organizations addressing sexual violence.You did extensive work last summer as an Arvonne Fraser fellow in Brooklyn developing and disseminating materials and training on child trafficking prevention education. And last spring you worked assisting asylum seekers here in Minnesota with the Advocates for Human Rights.
Congratulations!
Elissa and Bruce Peterson, Founding Members