Voices of Hope (VoH), a Kingston-based domestic abuse charity in partnership with Kingston's and Richmond's Women's Hubs, is holding a Silent No More event at KingsGate Church this International Women's Day (IWD), which is Saturday 8 March from 7pm – 9pm.

Silent No More is an event which focuses on raising awareness and taking action against gender-based Violence.

At the event, Nina Aouilk, an honour killing survivor, speaker, and advocate, will share her powerful journey and insights on combating honour-based and gender-based violence.

She will tell her journey, offering hope, practical steps for change, and a deeply personal approach to ending honour-based and gender-based violence.

Her personal story of resilience has inspired many around the world to challenge harmful traditions and support those affected by abuse.

Aoulik's talk will be followed by a panel where guests can ask her questions about her experiences and how she got through them.

There'll also be refreshments, a talk about how to tackle gender-based violence by Cherelle Abraham-Brown, a professional boxer who pushed VoH to host the event, and a session from Sisterhood Choir, singing a range of songs that resonate with them like Katy Perry's Roar and We Are Family.

Tickets to the event cost £6.13 and all proceeds go to VoH.

Book your tickets here.

All of VoH's project areas seek to build a sense of hope in the people it serves, and it intends to move them from 'At-Risk' to thriving.

It serves women who have dealt with various issues such as domestic violence, abuse, multiple disadvantages, and the criminal justice system as well as women who feel isolated in their community, not just because of their experiences, such as refugees who are new to the area.

VoH helps such women through its community programmes.

Last year, VoH reached 3,403 people through its women's services and it reaches over 50 women on a weekly basis.

Speaking about why IWD is so important in an exclusive interview with Kingston Nub News, Neeraja Jyothikumar, Richmond Women's Hub Coordinator & Minority Communities Outreach Worker, said: "Kingston Women's Hub, which is run by VoH, has a strong set of women that, through our preventative work and our survivors' forum, have made their voices heard loud and clear.

"They've also had their voices incorporated into systems and culture of change, um through councils or other local authority partnerships.

"And some of the preventative work we do is through the Pearl Project, where we try to break stigma and raise awareness around domestic violence and abuse.

"So, our intention for our IWD event is to shed light on a particular form of abuse that quite often gets missed out or people don't talk about it as much, for example, honour killings.

"One thing I can say, being South Asian myself, is that honour killings can happen in broad daylight and often they go unnoticed, or someone might be going through it and not telling people around them about it because it's coming straight from their families."

She continued: "So, it's really important for us to have a survivor like Nina coming and sharing her story and inspiring not just women, but also advocates, practitioners and different stakeholders in the space to put more focus on this or not to brush it aside."

Speaking about the importance of tackling gender-based violence, Jyothikumar said: "In the year ending March 2024, 6.6% of women aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales.

"So, it is really important for us to ensure the women around us feel like they have a space to share their experiences, or they know where to go to seek help if they deal with a situation like that."

Jyothikumar gives advice to women experiencing gender-based violence, saying: "We want everyone, every woman to know that there is support every step of the way.

"And it could be a really slow, gruelling process, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"We know so many women who have been through this and come out of it. So, there's no scarcity of examples to look at and get inspired by."

VoH's Women's Hubs in Kingston and Richmond offer crisis support, individual support, and community support, and are heavily involved in preventative work and survivors' forums.

As part of their preventative work, the hubs go to schools, working directly with young boys to help them understand the harmful attitudes and behaviours that lead to abuse or perpetuate abuse.

The pastor at KingsGate Church often attends these workshops at schools for the Kingston Women's Hub.

Jyothikumar said: "This is something that we work really hard on because it's very easy for people to assume that it comes much later in life, but if you tackle it much earlier in life, it gets easier.

"Our hubs also partner with their local councils and make sure that survivors of abuse have a platform to share their experiences with different stakeholders that are incorporated into systems like the NHS, different healthcare systems, and the police, and to make sure that all these stakeholders are trauma-informed and equipped in different needs of survivors that they might have in points of crisis when they're at their most vulnerable points."