Here in Örnsköldsvik a meetingplace for girls called Cayenne has just started. It hasn´t opened it yet but it soon will. This will be a place where you can go if you want to talk about your problems, but you don´t need to have problems at all to go there. You can just watch TV, listen to music, have a cup of coffee and just meet other girls.

There has been a women´s shelter in Örnsköldsvik for a long time and they made a survey at some schools here in Örnsköldsvik. Where they asked if the girls wanted to have a meetingplace just for girls and most of them wanted to have it.

The aim
The primary aim meetingplace for girls is to support and strengthen young girls in the municipality of Örnsköldsvik and also work against sexual violence and other types of abuses that girls are victims of. The persons working with Cayenne wish that girls who are not feeling well will know that someone sees them, takes their problems seriously and that they can get support and help from them. They are also going to have an emergency telephone answerings service and then you can call them to talk about problems that might appear in a young woman´s life.

Who are they ?
There are about twenty-five groupes like this in Sweden and most of them are new. Here in Örnsköldsvik thirteen young women work. They are young and they seem to like their new job very much. They are going to be in town when there is a disco or something else happening. They are going to buy jackets so everybody can recognize them and they will also visit the schools in Örnsköldsvik to introduce themselves.
The women working in these groups are younger than the women working in the women´s shelters because they want to get in contact with young girls. The girls think it`s easier to talk with a younger woman. In Sweden there are about 135 - 140 women´s shelters and they are in the bigger towns. The usual reasons for visiting a women´s shetersis being raped, being abused or incest. Their striving is to change society so no woman or girl needs to be afraid of being beaten or raped.

Opening hours
They have also decided that opening hours depends on which days the girls want them to be open, so they don´t know yet how many evenings they will be open. On thing they have decided is that they will be open on Sundays and Mondays.

We think it`s very good that there will be a meetingplace for girls here in Örnsköldsvik. It`s very good for girls who have problems. They can talk with other women who can help them through their difficulties.


© 2000 Freeway
Writers: Marlene & Kristina.
HTML by: Kaj Wiklund (nv01-25@park.se).