According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman in America is raped every two minutes. If you are a woman looking to get involved in the battle for the safety and sanctity of women, W.A.V.E. is a great place to start.
Located at Broad and Cherry streets, Women’s Anti-Violence Education (W.A.V.E.) began in 1995 with a woman running self-defense classes out of her own home. Since then, it has blossomed into an organization based on helping women learn how to defend themselves against potential predators by offering a variety of self-defense classes. W.A.V.E. expects to see more than 3,000 women and girls cross its doorstep this year in an effort to protect themselves, as well as bring awareness to the problem of violence against women.
W.A.V.E. welcomes all ages, shapes and sizes of women into its self-defense classes, held on Wednesday evenings between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The six-week program will culminate on March 24, 2004, but you are not required to pay the full $210 dollar fee if you cannot attend all the classes. W.A.V.E. always provides services on a pay-what-you-can basis so no one is turned down because of an inability to pay.
This self-defense program is not the only workshop W.A.V.E. offers for women interested in learning how to protect themselves. They have seminars for every type of woman, so if you work nights or cannot commit to an entire program you can check out the following options. Monday night drop-in classes which require no registration, and have a pay-what-you-can $20 dollar fee, or Saturday workshops on March 27 and April 3, 2004. These workshops provide the same basic training of kicks, blocks and strikes that the six-week program offers, and includes verbal self-defense as well. Regardless of your financial situation or busy schedule, there is a program that is right for you.
If you are still not satisfied, W.A.V.E. will come to you providing three different types of classes for a variety of group programs. You can have a W.A.V.E. seminar taught in your workplace, community center or a class for girls ages 11-18 to help them develop emotional and physical self-confidence and assertiveness. These groups can pick from a one-hour Safety and Assertiveness Presentation to a 12-hour Comprehensive Class Series that meets for six weeks. While the full fee is $200 an hour, W.A.V.E. is willing to work with any budget.
Interested? Here’s how to get involved: Since W.A.V.E is a small non-profit organization, donations are always appreciated. Also, W.A.V.E. hires volunteer instructors and interns to run most aspects of their organization. Or, you could just simply take a class or two. Contact W.A.V.E. at (215) 241-5720 or www.waveselfdefense.org.
Erin Hildreth can be reached at erinh21@temple.edu.
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