Refugee women launch musical campaign against violence against women

Four refugee sisters take stand against violence Meghan Roberts reports on four musical sisters who fled their home country in 2002.

Four musical sisters are launching a campaign to raise awareness about violence against women. It’s called “That Could Be Me” and asks Winnipeggers to imagine what it’s like to live in fear.

“You take yourself into the position that those people are going through, and you feel their pain and the situation they’re going through. So that is why we’re doing this,” says Sylvie Bahati.

Bahati is one of four sisters who form TheBahatizz. They fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 from a brutal civil war, and spent 10 years in Uganda as refugees.

“We had no mattresses where we could sleep and we had no food to eat. But the hope that we had was, we always hoped that tomorrow was going to be a better day,” says Francine Bahati.

TheBahatizz experienced fear of being kidnapped first-hand, so the group was distraught when they learned more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped. The Nigerian girls were taken from their school by extremist group, Boko Haram.

“We know how being kidnapped is. We know the insecurity, the fear, a child can feel,” says Sylvie Bahati.

The sisters are hosting a music video release party for their two new videos on Wednesday, May 28^th. Proceeds will go to the Panzi Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.