A bird flies through the air, catching the wind on it wings and soaring to unknown heights. This is the kind of hope that the Pluma Project, a Web site where survivors of domestic violence can share their stories through artwork and writing, wants to inspire.
The Pluma Project was started by University of Oregon graduate student Lauren Zavrel in an effort to promote outside communication for those who submit work to the site.

“The main idea for the site was to make it comfortable for women survivors of domestic violence to feel at ease when submitting expressions of violence from all kinds of situations,” Zavrel said. “You don’t have to have a black eye to have gone through domestic abuse.”
Zavrel, who began working on this project for a non-profit management class, said that as she got going the project became a reality.
By starting at a local level she has already begun promoting her Web site through organizations such as the White Bird Clinic, the Pearl Buck Center, the county jail, WomenSpace, the Sexual Assault Center, the University Health Center, Riverstone Clinic and more.
There will even be a fundraiser for the project at Track Town Pizza tonight. Those who print off a flier from the project’s Web site, www.plumaproject.org, and bring it to Track Town can have 50 percent of their meal cost donated to the project.
When asked how she planned to get submissions from women who had gone or who were currently going through abuse, Zavrel said she had already begun placing drop boxes at various survival centers. She hopes to soon be able to reach all of the organizations that are promoting the project. She put out drop boxes because “a lot of survivors do not have access to computers.”
Zavrel has even made an attempt to get word out to the public high schools through fliers and “Girl-Talk,” a forum held once a week where local Eugene high school students can talk about what is happening in their lives. She also hopes to encourage Spanish speakers to submit their work.
“I think there is a lack of definition around the word abuse. Abuse can be anything or anyone that makes you uncomfortable on purpose more than once; any situation with violence,” she said.
Zavrel chose to focus her project on domestic violence because many of the survivors live in secret and for their own safety cannot reveal where they are living.
“Having a Web site where they can submit their stories while keeping their anonymity is crucial for their safety and comfort,” she said. “Also, it is important because other people read what they write, or see what they made and acknowledge the pain and suffering that they been through. It’s as important for them to realize others are going through the same thing that they are as it is for them to be acknowledged by others as survivors.”
Zavrel chose pluma, the Spanish word for “feather,” as the name of her project because “you have to fly from your experience to reach where you want to go.”
So far the entire project and execution has been Zavrel’s. She has networked with SASS and WomenSpace to learn more about the non-profit realm and how to reach women in these experiences but has worked and paid for the project on her own.
When asked what she would like next, Zavrel said she would like to have more submissions and support for the project through fundraisers such as the one at Track Town Pizza tonight. Anyone interested in learning more about the project can contact Zavrel through the Web site.