Wow. On Sunday evening, I started the petition ‘Stop rapes and protect women around Parc du Cinquantenaire with more police presence’. I’ve been completely blown away by the number of signatures it has gathered since.

In less than 36 hours, more than 2000 people have signed the petition. My story has now been featured in BRUZZ, and dozens of women have come forward to share similar stories as the community momentum has grown.

Thank you so much for your support, bravery and for listening. It really saddens me that I’m not the only one, but I encourage you to transform these unfortunate events into empowering events of change. I refuse to be a victim that settles for general nonchalance towards this topic. No one’s experience is too small and there really is strength in numbers when we share in confidence.

I am currently in talks with a local resident to organise a (Covid-friendly) women’s self-defence class in Parc du Cinquantenaire one Saturday or Sunday afternoon in February. If you have any ideas or know any clubs/groups that may complement this, I’d love to hear from you. I invite you to leave a comment below.

I am also constantly refining the proposals of the petition based on resident feedback, and will look to be taking these to the relevant bodies/people ASAP. So far that is Vincent De Wolf (Etterbeek Mayor) and Philippe Close (Mayor of the City of Brussels). Please feel free to suggest additions to the proposals, as well as suggestions for other relevant people that we can contact. Again, I invite you to leave a comment below.

I’ve been asked a lot of questions since the petition was published, particularly about my story and how I am. Hopefully the article in BRUZZ will shed some light on the details. As for me, I’m well. Thanks for asking. I’ve been told that forms of PTSD can occur days or weeks later, so I’m staying alert for this. But in general, I’m well. Above all, I’m feeling truly empowered by the support and stories that people have shared. 

Thank you so much, once again. Whilst writing this, I’ve just been contacted by someone from the radio. I’ll be speaking on Radio BRUZZ in an hour at 12:10-12:20pm on behalf of all the women who have experienced Brussels as unsafe for so many years. Every tweet, comment, share and discussion really does count.

I’ll be in touch again soon with more updates. 

Take care,

Charles R. Swindoll: “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”