In the "Orange Your City" campaign, which was initiated by women in the UN, entire cities and even Niagara Falls, will be bathed in orange light to represent a symbol for the ending of violence against women.

This year, the two Bonn Zonta Clubs, which belong to an association that has been committed to women in diverse ways for a hundred years, will also take part. “About 130 clubs will take part in this campaign”, reports Ulrike Seeler, the president of the Bonn-Rheinaue Zonta Club. In Bonn, the City Hall, the Post Tower, the UN logo, the City Museum, the Bundeskunsthalle and the Art Museum as well as other institutions will be lit up in orange for the first time. In parallel, other activities will aim to inform and educate about the topic.

“We want to encourage women to open up and talk about violence. The campaign should also constitute the message: You are not alone,” says Seeler. It is well known how severely repressed traumas can influence later life and cause lasting damage. Nevertheless, the anonymous hotline for women who have been victims of violence is not publically well-enough known: "If you ask around, you'll find that even doctors don’t know this number.” Another reason for why Bonn City Hall will also be lit up in orange this year is because Mayor Ashok Sridharan is this year's patron. He will congratulate the Zonta Club on its 100th birthday at a public ceremony on 23 November.

Zonta was founded in the USA as a counterpart to male-dominated clubs, to stand up for women. The focus in this anniversary year is to revive the Hakuna Matata Project, which cares for children who are victims of passive domestic violence. The proceeds from this year's Advent calendar will go to the project. Another very important topic for Zonta is child marriages, which still exist and whose effects are unimaginable. However, before the good work continues, there will be a celebration in the Alten Rathaus on 23 November at 5 pm.

(Original text; Verena Düren, translation John Chandler)