My name is Chourouk Khatib and I've just completed a placement at the Peel Committee against Woman Abuse (PCAWA). I am in my last year at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus doing a double major in Women and Gender Studies and Psychology. The WGS department offers a practicum course that allows us students to connect WGS theories to practice, so as to better understand these theories through "real world" work experience! I did my placement at PCAWA from October 2013- April 2014 and it has been so far one of the greatest experiences I've ever had! I have learnt so many things while working at PCAWA and had the pleasure to work with Toni Francis, PCAWA Coordinator and other women working in Peel agencies on the Special Events Planning Committee.
I don't know where to begin to express all the excitement and fun I had working with everyone in organizing the two focal, regional events planned by PCAWA: the Dec 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Woman, and the March 8th International Women's Day! All of the hard work we put into planning these events paid off through the great success of the events, including the attendance of over 130 people at each event including the Mayor of Mississauga the Honourable Hazel McCallion, and several dignitaries and notable public leaders.
As I mentioned earlier, there are many things that I have learnt from my placement that you wouldn't learn from school alone. It is a completely different experience from school and theory. It's true that we talked about violence against women in WGS, but when I was doing research for the Dec 6th event, I was shocked to learn of the sheer number of women who are impacted by violence in Ontario, Canada and worldwide. I learnt from Toni that you have to be careful with how you use the word and understand the notion of "helping" in the violence-against-women(VAW) sector, and I learnt to be critical of our role as change agents in social service work, and have since started using terms like "support" and "facilitate the empowerment of women" because the women we serve in this sector are the experts of their lives and know best what they need. Another thing that I learnt from working with Toni and other critical feminists in Peel, is how to be determined, persistent, focused and to have conviction, and not give up when working in the VAW sector as this work requires a lot of patience and energy. I also learned that you have to be self-reflective and knowledgeable and aware of developments in your local community and global community even if it's not required or assigned from school.
Overall, it was an amazing experience for me and I would go back and do it all again!
I don't know where to begin to express all the excitement and fun I had working with everyone in organizing the two focal, regional events planned by PCAWA: the Dec 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Woman, and the March 8th International Women's Day! All of the hard work we put into planning these events paid off through the great success of the events, including the attendance of over 130 people at each event including the Mayor of Mississauga the Honourable Hazel McCallion, and several dignitaries and notable public leaders.
As I mentioned earlier, there are many things that I have learnt from my placement that you wouldn't learn from school alone. It is a completely different experience from school and theory. It's true that we talked about violence against women in WGS, but when I was doing research for the Dec 6th event, I was shocked to learn of the sheer number of women who are impacted by violence in Ontario, Canada and worldwide. I learnt from Toni that you have to be careful with how you use the word and understand the notion of "helping" in the violence-against-women(VAW) sector, and I learnt to be critical of our role as change agents in social service work, and have since started using terms like "support" and "facilitate the empowerment of women" because the women we serve in this sector are the experts of their lives and know best what they need. Another thing that I learnt from working with Toni and other critical feminists in Peel, is how to be determined, persistent, focused and to have conviction, and not give up when working in the VAW sector as this work requires a lot of patience and energy. I also learned that you have to be self-reflective and knowledgeable and aware of developments in your local community and global community even if it's not required or assigned from school.
Overall, it was an amazing experience for me and I would go back and do it all again!
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