Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

Why not?" said Cherie M. Querol Moreno, Community Outreach Coordinator and Filipino-American Outreach Coordinator for Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse, or CORA, when asked why it is important for people to know about domestic violence. "Violence happens to everybody," she said and added, "Every nine seconds, a woman is abused in this country, three women are murdered everyday by their past or current partners, people don’t understand,people don’t realize the prevalence of domestic violence."

This is why CORA is committed to addressing and taking the steps to serve the unique needs of through intervention and prevention.

"CORA is the only private, non-profit [agency in San Mateo County] that provides core services," Querol Moreno said and explained, "So there’s a difference. Other agencies provide other sorts of services, but we provide the core services, which is everything that a person in an abusive relationship or family might need."

In 2003, Sor Juana Ines (SJI) and the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CDVP) combined resources to create CORA. CDVP began in 1978 as La Casa de San Mateo: the county’s first and only emergency shelter for domestic violence victims, survivors and their children. SJI was founded in 1993, and established the first toll-free domestic violence support line in the county and addressed the unique needs of the Latino community.

"But we’re the only ones with funding to specifically outreach Filipino-Americans,"said Querol Moreno and added, "We have legal, we have counseling, we have parenting, we have shelter…we provide everything."

Mistaken notions and community education

As Querol Moreno said, violence happens to everybody. United States statistics show that each year, upwards of one million incidents of domestic violence occur. In San Mateo County last year, police responded to 2,879 domestic violence calls.

"People have a lot of mistaken notions about it, they think it happens only to people of a certain background, certain race, certain educational, financial position – it happens across the board," said Querol Moreno and explained, "It doesn’t have to be Filipino. It happens to anyone because they don’t know that they’re being abused. "

She also mentioned that 10 percent of their clients are Filipinos. Still, Querol Moreno feels that "barely scratches the surface. "It’s because of our culture," she said and added, "In which we would rather talk to people we know, people in the family, rather than a stranger or a professional, or maybe the stigma of speaking to a counselor, be cause we think it means we’re mentally ill. There are many so factors involved, as Filipinos typically don’t ask for help."

And for Querol Moreno, educating the community is an important factor in stopping domestic violence. "Community education is a prevention component of our work," she said and further explained, "If we are going to stop domestic violence we have to educate the community about it – why it happens, how it happens and how it looks and that it looks different in different cultures."

Another fundamental factor according to Querol Moreno is that everybody and anybody can help stop domestic abuse. She explained that most people think that they have to be licensed professionals to help, when in reality, education and looking at individual values and behaviors can help modify how people relate to others. This, she says, is a start in building safer homes and communities.