Another day with SHOUT

On Saturday I joined AWAM (All Women Action Society) at a crime prevention workshop sponsored by the Crime and Investigation Network. The mall management put the displays in outside area with light foot traffic. When AWAM women went into the mall to pass out brochures they were stopped and told they could not. Lesson - mall management around the world is the same.

A light turnout can be a disappointment, but in this case the workshop allowed SHOUT (Sexual Harassment Out) participants to practice and critique their presentation and role plays.

"Bus passenger" getting close

Successfully tossing off an attacker

KickStart Academy's role players were amazing. They were so realistic and fierce I wondered who their friends were.

The workshop started with Crime and Investigation clip of an upcoming program, featuring a 2003 murder that occurred at our local up-market shopping center. Slick, scary crime shows are not limited to the west.

Half a planet away but familiar themes. A NGO swimming upstream to reach an audience, a mall purporting social responsibility but not impeding the business of buying and selling, and sensational television programming. (A blogger at the event posted more pictures including the KickStart presentation on his 4 December entry.) And, I had a day to think about NGOs and advocacy, chat with Malaysians, and learn more about the the challenges of Malaysian advocacy organizations.