Nancy Mimoun, the outgoing SNEC president, Rob Adler, the consortium's incoming president and Eshel Fram, P2K partnership director, Avi Elkabetz, the mayor of Afula and other invited guests attended the dedication ceremony of a "Women to Women" Center in the city last week. Dr. Judith Antonelli, chairperson of the Steering Committee and director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the Emek Medical Center is the woman of vision behind the dream and the driving force that brought this center into reality. The "Women to Women" Center will sponsor a series of empowerment workshops for the women of the Afula/Gilboa region as well as varied other activities including a branch office of the Haifa Rape Crisis Center. More can be learned about this new center from Anat Horowitz, the activities coordinator for the Valley Rape Crisis Center.

Anat Horowitz, the activities coordinator for the Valley Rape Crisis Center spoke with us about how exposure to the center's reality and the understanding that sexual assaults do occur, can change our life and paint it a very different color. As a parent, Anat said, this introduces a whole new set of considerations into her life that were not there before; many more worries and thoughts about what if… just the exposure to the number of incidents, events and stories that people tell leaves you tense.

It is commonly thought that the majority of sexual assaults are committed by strangers, occur in dark alleys, at night or while hitchhiking. However, the truth is that 85% of rape cases are committed by individuals known to the victim such as neighbors, teachers or counselors, etc and most cases actually occur during the day, at work or school. Anat emphasized however, that having this knowledge does not make the myths any less worrisome.

The seminars conducted by the Rape Crisis Center have many objectives. They aim to create a sense of empathy, an understanding that it could happen to anyone and help differentiate between responsibility and guilt, to create a generation that speaks up, provide effective means of communication and encourage a less judgmental society, more forgiving and tolerant. In addition to her work as activities coordinator in our area, Anat is also a mentor for women who are victims of sexual assault. In this role, she provides support and quiet guidance, accompanying the women to police investigations, to court and the hospital. She is there for them, lending them her experience and protecting their rights, such as the right to be questioned by a female detective, have a break or a glass of water. She is there to listen and hold their hand. Anat tells us how enormous the loneliness can be for a sexual assault victim, especially when the rapist is a member of the family.

The center's objectives are to provide information and increased awareness to both the public and various institutions. There is greater openness and a trend towards change. In fact, the best indication of this change came just the other day when a female detective contacted the center in order to request that they send a mentor to escort a young girl who had been raped. The experience of being raped is total loss of control of your life, and it is a private matter, therefore only the victim can decide whether to publicize her personal story. In order that the essence of the center is maintained, it must keep these stories confidential, even if the goal is a positive one and might provide information to help others.

The center aspires to help the victim regain control over her life as much as possible and not turn the process into a second case of rape. Looking back at her family and the way she raises her three girls (9½, 6 and 16 months) Anat says that she is more aware and tries to increase their awareness as well. The myths, she says, were intended to put our world in order and protect us a bit, as well. "I try to protect my girls from the places that others might not be so aware of, since attacks on children most often occur in places that are known to them. I try to speak with them about their right to protect their bodies for themselves." One of the "indexes", as she put it, to predicting success in protecting children is the level of openness at home, a home where it is possible to talk freely about anything and create real situations in which it is possible to talk openly.