Imagine: you are a South African woman that suffers from abuse by her husband (right to physical integrity, freedom of violence). He has beaten you up yet again and finally enough is enough. You gather up all your courage to go to the police agency and press charges. Just in case, you do not go to the nearby police station, but to one just outside your neighbourhood. You spend some of your last Rand on a cab.

Your arrive. Five police officers stare at you. It is obvious that they are not busy doing something. One of them responds and gestures that you can approach the counter (right to privacy). You timidly explain to him why you have come and the officer asks:  'Where did your husband beat you?’ You respond: “Well, at home, my house is in a nearby neighourhood.’’ The answer: “Then I can not help you, because this is outside our jurisdiction.”

Hard to believe? It gets worse. You decide to spend your money for the taxi ride home on a ride to the police station in your own neighbourhood. Again the same picture: a couple of officers doing nothing. They ask you to sit and wait to the end of their shift, because they do not have time to record your story.  The next shift does not start for an hour. You wait for the next officers to start their shift. Behind the counter you see a sign:  'If you have suggestions for improving our service, please phone the head of the bureau or send an e-mail.' (right to participation).

After an hour you are heard. The officers even take up your case. Not too seriously, you even get the distinct impression that some of them are laughing at you. Being beaten by your husband, that is not a real crime, right? But you follow through, you've already come this far. You are given a case number of the record made. You can only get a copy of it on request (right to information).

The police decides to arrest your husband: you have to point your abuser out of a line-up of six men. But not from behind a mirror; South Africa is said to have only five police stations with such a mirror. Can you imagine that?!!

Unfortunately this story is partly based on my own very frustrating experiences of visits to two South African police stations and also on the stories of my South African colleagues. Luckily we only had to press charges on stolen luggage of my colleague.

But fortunately South African organisations such as Mosaic exist. They accompany battered women to the police station and help them to stand up for their rights. They ask for a copy of the record, so a year later in court the woman will know exactly what she has said. And even more importantly: they provide moral support to women to follow through and not be discouraged by a police force that - due to lack of training and financial means - does not do its work in a way that really respects a person's rights.

Happily, this morning I became a little bit hopeful. I received a phone call about the case of my colleague's luggage: they are working on it.

After a successful training it always feels like you have to return to the ‘real’ world. You share an intense week with the participants and other trainer and completely lose yourself in the process. The people back home, news and other issues pass me by completely, since all my energy is focused on the training. This week was no different in this respect and afterwards one of the participants commented: “Yes, at the end we were just like family.” This is when you know a training went well and it is something I can enjoy a lot. Only, this time the feeling did not last very long.

Earlier this week, I had already seen on television how violence based on background and ethnicity had spread around several cities in South Africa. At first, Capetown had seemed to be in the clear, but last Thursday it happened here as well. It broke my heart to see it. When we arrived at the guesthouse we witnessed the unimaginable events; a group of Somalian refugees walking to a nearby shelter, holding blankets and some possessions. The Red Cross has spoken of a humanitarian crisis and thousands of people on the run. For me it was already very shocking to see these people walk by. It made me feel terribly powerless.

It had already been discussed in our training: when talking about human rights violations, statistics are irrelevant. Every violation counts and the state is obligated to protect each individual against human rights violations. On this issue, South Africa has a very difficult past, and it is this what makes the current events even more hard to digest. Everybody is talking about it, but unfortunately the South African government does not seem to take any real action to stop the violence. And that only increases my anger, sense of powerlessness and amazement, as well as that of many South Africans!

Defending the rights of women is a virus, but a positive one. During this training many employees of women organisations have related why and how they have used HeRWAI to improve the rights of women.

The link between women's rights and daily reality seems to be very weak. An example of one participant however shows that right and reality are in fact very close together. In Kenia, young girls turned out to drop out from high school, because they could not afford to pay for sanitary napkins. This violated not only their right to health, but also their right to education. A simple policy change was sufficient to improve their situation: the Kenian government cancelled taxes on sanitary towels and the costs declined by 75%. But this only happened after the problem had reached the national media through a campaign of a  non-governmental organisation. The whole country was indignant!

This shows that governments are in fact sensitive to pressure by the public opinion, but both the general public and the government are not aware of many problems. And while policy, formulated to solve a problem, can be developed with the best intentions, it can still have averse effects. Sometimes, policy is missing altogether, like the example illustrates. It is exactly this difference between what is promised on paper, or lack thereof, and what happens in reality, that can be analysed with the aid of a HeRWAI study. The outcomes of the study can then be used to make policy makers aware of the difference and to make recommendations on how to improve the situation.

The participants to this training are all experienced in this way of working and have become very enthusiastic about it. They like to teach other organisations to work with HeRWAI to decrease the difference between right and reality. To quote one of the participants from Pakistan: ‘I believe in HeRWAI! I want to make a difference, even if it is for just one woman, one woman would make it worth the effort.’

Training demands preparation – lots of preparation. What seems to be an easy flowing story during a training, has often been rehearsed and talked through many times. This is a process that is easiest when the team of trainers can discuss and prepare face-to-face. My colleague and I did not have that luxury this past month. I was in the office in the Netherlands, while Jessie was in China. After many e-mails and Skype phone calls, today we have met for the first time. Not an ideal situation, but we are both confident that the training will turn out fine.

We might not be completely tuned in to each other, but the subject of the training - right to health for women - is powerful and the group of participants that we have met today is fully committed. They come from around the world, from Pakistan to Mexico, from the Netherlands to Zimbabwe. Brimming with enthusiasm they relate their experiences with the HeRWAI method. I am convinced they will be the driving force behind this training.

Because training is not just preparation. It is mostly passion and inspiration. Passion for the subject of the training, but especially passion for the participants. And inspiration for everyone, because you all realise again what it is that you work for: improving the rights of women in your country. Sharing experiences, ideas and plans creates the motivation to use the content of the training back home. And even with the best preparation, without these two ingredients no training can be successful. And that is the real challenge for every trainer.