Womxn in South Africa have to choose, every day, between their education and their safety. They have to choose between working on campus and getting home safely. They have to plan when and where they can walk without being harassed, attacked or assaulted. We want to change that. We want to work with university management and governments to make our campuses safer. And we need your help to do it.
Dear friend,
One year ago I was sitting in the computer labs with my Masters class working on an assignment we had due. Our whole class was there since we needed to use software that none of us had on our computers (if we had computers at all). One of my classmates and I took a walk to go and get coffee – by now it was 9pm and this would be our last chance to stock up on caffeine before the long night ahead of us. On the way my friend glanced outside and had a debate with herself. It began casually with the simple statement of “I need to decide if I want to get coffee” but ended with “I need to decide if I should go home”. Our assignment was far from finished and I was puzzled. For her, home was not far during the day but it was dark now and dangerous to walk. I realized that night that this brave woman – like many others on my campus – had to make the daily decision between her safety and her education.
As it was, I had already been working on Unashamed for two years. When I met my co-founder, the concept behind the organisation shifted into what it is today. What started as an awareness-raising campaign transformed into an organisation with three portfolios (Sexual Agency and Consent; Sexual and Mental Health; Gender Identity and Sexuality) and a team of dedicated, passionate students with a network of helping hands across the country.
Now, we have moved from simply raising awareness to actively working to educate students and staff on a variety of topics within our portfolios. We work as intermediaries between university management and students to try and get to the heart of the problems that students face and thereby develop student-led solutions.
Last year, our team received 36 phone calls from students who had been raped or assaulted on our campus and who didn’t know where to go for help. It has become increasingly clear that our campuses need reformation and education on the topics of women’s rights, consent, agency, and sexual and mental health. Unashamed is named such because we are not ashamed to tackle these complex questions and because we are unashamed about our ideal of freer, safer and more equal campuses.
This is the goal that we have been – and will continue – working for. In order to reach it, our organisation must take a number of pivotal steps in the coming months.
We would be honoured if you would be willing to help us on this journey.
In love and strength,
Rochelle Jacobs
Co-founder, Unashamed
Unashamed was founded in 2014 by Rochelle Jacobs and Dalaine Krige, both students at Stellenbosch University. We began with the intention of creating conversations around the topics of rape culture and consent with the hope of improving the education of students on these topics. The motivation behind this was the belief that removing the guilt and shame that permeate such topics and allowing a space for them to be discussed openly would promote safer campuses for students. We are driven by a team of passionate students and staff who believe in intersectional feminism and the power of communication and education in changing our society for the better.
Unashamed has established itself at Stellenbosch University as an intermediary between students, university management, and government. In 2016, Unashamed coordinated the #chapter212 campaign, which aimed to raise awareness regarding the lack of safety for women on many campuses in the country. To our delight, #chapter212 was trending on Twitter within 48 hours, with support from a number of campuses across the country! To date, Unashamed has facilitated a number of workshops at various university residences to educate leadership and students on a variety of topics. We have assisted in the process of equalizing the rules at women’s and men’s residences, a process which is still on-going. We have collaborated with the Equality Unit at Stellenbosch University to begin researching reformations to the reporting systems for sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination.
Our goals consist of short term priorities and long term ideals. For these goals to be reached, we require the investment of the public on a financial level. With financial support from the community, some our pivotal objectives can become realities, as discussed below.
We want to register as a NPO so that we can begin moving to more universities and working on policies regarding sexual assault, sexual and mental health and similar topics. This would validate our position to the broader public and assist us in expanding our reach, as well as helping us with simple administrative and logistical constraints that influence our ability to be maximally efficient at present.
Unashamed has also decided to employ full-time staff members for the first time and we want to pay them for their hard work, dedication and time commitments. Their jobs include facilitating further workshops and engagements in academic spheres, marketing Unashamed to the broader public to increase our reach and execute the short term goals that yield long term results – such as online reporting, a website and alternative modes of financial support – and, finally, begin a number of collaborative projects with like-minded NGOs in the Western Cape.
In order to accomplish our long term goals, we have drawn up a list of three-month goals. These are aimed at improving our reach, increasing our presence online and establishing means of consistent income.
In the first three months, Unashamed needs a total of R35 000 to cover the following costs:
Thereafter, we need a total of R250 000 to cover our running and project expenses for the remainder of 2017, including
Our website isn’t up and running yet but we have a Facebook page where you can keep a lookout for what we’re up to. You can also follow us on Twitter at the handle @unashamed_stel and on Instagram @unashamed_the_movement. We promise to post regular updates on how we’re doing with reaching our goals! If you’ve contributed to our cause, you will receive a monthly e-mail letting you know how things are going and where we are spending donated funds. We also have a public Google Drive folder that absolutely anyone can access. Here, you can see a detailed report of all our spending in the next three months as well as some more information about who we are; we’ll also update it throughout the year so that you can be a part of the process. If you want to have a look at this folder in the meantime, head over to our Facebook page; the link for the folder is in our details and you can get to know us a little better.
Unashamed’s organisational structure is designed to promote student leadership and encourage learning and growth among student participants. As such, we have permanent team members – our Directors (pictured above) and Head Coaches – who organize, manage and run each portfolio and we have student volunteers. These volunteers sign up on a project-by-project basis, allowing them to choose how much time to dedicate to the organisation, without risking either our functioning or their own studies. The volunteer then leads and runs the project that they have chosen, teaching them important leadership and management skills. To ensure our quality is always top-tier and our projects are completed on time, each student is assigned a Head Coach who guides and coaches them through the project process.
Currently, our three Directors are our only permanent staff. Read more about them and what they do below:
ROCHELLE JACOBS (right), ADVENTURE SEEKER
26 years old
Coffee addict | almost-economist | poet | maths-lover | adrenaline junkie
Rochelle co-founded Unashamed with Dalaine and she is currently working as Executive Director and Head Coach of the Sexual Agency and Consent Portfolio. Fearless and outspoken, Rochelle can always be found on campus, at discussions and at rallies. She’s not afraid to ask difficult questions and she’s relentless in finding answers. Rochelle is an idealist and a dreamer at heart so she’s always the one coming up with new ideas and projects, which is why she’s the one to keep projects going and initiate collaborations with important allies.
Catch Phrase: I have an idea…
DALAINE KRIGE (left), GO-GETTER
22 years old
extrovert | foodie | hot chocolate lover | cold weather snuggler | world traveller
Dalaine is one of Unashamed’s co-founders and her current positions on the team include Executive Director and Head Coach of the Sexual and Mental Health Portfolio. She’s busy with her Honours in Journalism, after completing a degree in International Studies. She works hard in getting everyone into shape and making sure the work gets done! She is the primary liaison between university management and the Unashamed team and has been working hard in getting the online reporting system off the ground. A practical thinker and extrovert, Dalaine can always be counted on to get things done.
Catch Phrase: we can do that!
BABETTE ALBERTS (center), STORYTELLER
25 years old
Tea drinker, milk first | Cat enthusiast | book hoarder | history boff
A collector of stories, Babette is constantly talking to people, listening to others and reading up on everything and anything that she finds interesting. And she finds everything interesting (except maths, but we have Rochelle for that). With an Honours in English Studies and busy with her Masters in History, Babette is perfectly suited to running all our social media pages, generating content and curating stories and poetry for our up-coming anthology. With a mind in love with language and a passionate heart, she is always busy, always ready and always game for achieving the impossible.
Catch Phrase: let’s do it