Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment hosted a performance Tuesday to educate UW-Madison students on the overlooked issues surrounding domestic violence.
Singer, author, storyteller and motivational speaker Wambui Bahati performed a skit illustrating several different forms of domestic and dating violence.
Bahati's performance was followed by a question-and-answer session in which students had the opportunity to learn more about Bahati's past, and about dating violence issues in general.
According to Bahati, her performances are not necessarily intended to teach her audience or to solve domestic violence, but rather to draw attention to it.
""It's just a way of making people aware that it is not a speech,"" Bahati said. ""It catches the attention of people who would not ordinarily pay attention to a speech.""
Bahati, who began her formal theatrical studies at the New York University of the Arts, travels performing her experiences with mental illness and domestic abuse.
She changed her name to Wambui, which is Swahili for singer of songs, and Bahati, signifying good fortune.
One of the several characters related to domestic abuse in Bahati's skit was a reflection of one of her past relationships. She described it as an emotionally abusive relationship in which she was unknowingly one of a senator's many girlfriends.
""He's the kind of abuser that I think most of us deal with,"" she said. ""Nobody hits you, but they just mess with your mind and keep you depressed, and you're not sure what it is because nobody hit you.""
Bahati classifies domestic abuse as any relationship with one confused partner.
Although she did not state any specific way of solving domestic violence, Bahati does suggest self-worth as a key concept in healthy relationships.
""I believe the answer [to dealing with domestic violence] is more of a spiritual answer in that we have to understand who we are and that love is about letting the other person evolve into the best they can be,"" Bahati said.
Bahati's performance kicked off PAVE's domestic violence awareness month. For more information on future events this month, visit uwpave.rso.wisc.edu.
