Her eyes are fixed on the door. Shagufta is waiting round-the-clock for her son to return home. She denies the fact that her wait is never going to end. Nearly five years have passed since her teenaged son was killed. Shagufta is yet to overcome the trauma of his loss. She is still not ready to accept that she has lost her ‘Jimmy’ forever. “It can’t be true that Jimmy is no more, it has to be a lie,” she mumbles.

Kony 2012 was an online video campaign that sought to create awareness and exert pressure on the international community to act against Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army which is responsible for the longest running violent struggle in Central Africa. Kony 2012 succeeded in its campaign and in garnering international exposure for the victims of the struggle, but it is accused of portraying the African people as silent witnesses. Several women activists in Africa emphasize that the youth needs to know that Africa is there for them and perhaps this is exactly what will help the campaign against Kony succeed.

In 1971, during Bangladesh’s war of independence, when Pakistani troops had laid siege on the city of Dhaka, one man allegedly gunned down 344 people and raped a young girl. He was Abdul Qader Molla, the man who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal on February 5 this year. Thousands of women and men have gathered to protest against the government’s decision in Shahbag in Dhaka and many more protest demonstrations are being organized abroad by non-resident Bangladeshis in a movement that may just redefine Bangladesh’s identity as a nation.

For women in India to walk with dignity and freedom, a social transformation as well as a change in the values, attitudes and male perceptions of women, by men and women, is needed. Dr. Kanchana Lanzet, member of the board of directors at UN Women in Bonn, gives us an expert opinion on why being a woman in India is so problematic and whether one can really do much about it. This is Dr. Lanzet’s first blog in the series.

This is a global invitation to dance! On February 14, 2013, women around the world are commemorating the 15th anniversary of V-Day, to end violence against women and girls. Women in Bonn are also part of the “One Billion Rising” movement to activate men and women across the world and sensitize them towards women’s issues. Join the flash mob at Bonn, Münsterplatz on 14 February, Thursday at 16:30.  Check out the choreography video so we can all match our steps :).

One Billion Rising in your city: for more details click here.

Sonali has undergone 22 surgeries

Acid attack survivor Sonali Mukherjee relates the horrific tale of her attack, how she felt afterward and how she tried to cope with her life. In this blog, which was initially a conversation with DW-blogger Samra Fatima, Sonali tells us why she chose not to kill herself.

The one-million-strong Bohra community in India is a small group of a muslim sect called the Ismaili Shias who are believed to have originated in Egypt. In India, they have settled in the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This group practices female genital mutilation (FGM).