Every 25th of the month, HPCA staff don their most favoured orange attire in support of The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, managed by the UN Women which has proclaimed the 25th of the month as “Orange Day” – a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls.
Orange day
It’s a dedicated day, falling on the 25th of every month, where organisations around the world raise awareness and run activities to highlight the ways in which we can prevent and end violence against women and girls.
Every 25th of the month Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa wear anything significantly orange to raise awareness around this campaign and also to show our full support and backing around this particular campaign.
The stats around violence against woman are not good. An astounding one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Unlike an illness, however, committers and even entire societies choose to commit violence—and can choose to stop as well!
Violence is not unavoidable. It can be prevented and avoided, however it’s not as straightforward as eliminating a virus. There is no vaccine, medication or cure. And there is no one single reason for why it happens.
Many sectors, actors and stakeholders need to be engaged much more effectively and what is promising is that more evidence is emerging on what involvements must be put in place that will assist preventing violence from happening.
What you can do?
In your own capacity, whether through your organisation or on a personal level, raise awareness of this day by wearing orange on the 25th of every month and getting your organisation, friends etc. involved as well! By doing so you will be actively involved in trying to eliminate the violence that occurs with woman through raising awareness of this cause through your orange outfit or the activities you plan.
Social Media
Tweet pictures and post online through your Facebook page what you/your organisation are doing on #OrangeDay as well as the orange outfits you are wearing. Make sure to follow @SayNO_UniTE to keep up to date with what is going on around the world with regards to #OrangeDay.
