In a society that blames them for whatever goes wrong in a relationship or a family, it is extremely difficult for women to raise their voice against the manipulation and abuse that they go through in their own homes. As a result, innumerable incidents of mental torture, rape, incest and domestic violence go unreported. Those few women who do break the silence and seek help are usually driven by desperate and intolerable circumstances. Even for those few, the society provides no appropriate means of immediate or longer term assistance.

The lack of support to the women in difficult situations results in many returning to the same unbearable circumstances that they had tried to escape from. Alone, isolated, no productive assets and with no one really to turn to many women continue to tolerate all sorts of injustices and harsh treatment in their homes, in their job situations, in public and in society as a whole. It was the urgent need for providing help and support to women in Pakistani society that has led a group of professional women to initiate Bedari.

Bedari means “Awakening” (or “Awareness”) realizes those supporting women in crisis is not the only means of minimizing discrimination towards the abuse of women. Therefore it has developed a two-fold aim. The first as described above involves responding to the immediate needs of women in crisis by appropriate intervention. Bedari does this by providing a crisis Intervention service staffed by Psychologists and a team of volunteers and by giving women access to legal and medical help through a special services and a comprehensive referral system.

The second is to address the long-term need for raising awareness and encouraging self-growth among women through mutual support. This, Bedari has done mainly through workshops of self-discovery and personal growth, seminars, support groups and other relevant workshops.

Bedari’s concrete conceptualization began from May ’91 onwards and Bedari House was formally opened on 2nd May ‘1992. We have many supporters on our mailing list. These are the people from within our community who believe in what Bedari is doing and support our activities. They are kept constantly in touch with Bedari by regular meetings, mailing of flyers, newsletter and relevant information on Bedari’s activities.

Bedari caters to the community of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Among our supporters we have a full range of people from the lower economic groups to the elite of Islamabad. Men and women of all ages and children come to Bedari. This year effort was made to reach out to the student population.