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April is , an annual opportunity to educate about the widespread impacts of sexual violence and to encourage action to prevent it. For Comfort Dondo ’15, this is year-round work. She is the founder of , a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing domestic violence and sexual abuse by providing culturally-specific resources to women and girls of African descent.

Dondo originally came to St. Kate’s in 2004 as an international student from Zimbabwe. She majored in nutritional science and minored in women’s studies before leaving to work for Hennepin County as part of Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a nutrition and breastfeeding program offering education and counseling.

“My passion has always been around serving women and children,” she said. “I went to get married and had children of my own and I found myself in some abusive situations, in which I interacted with a lot of social workers. This then led me to be interested in and to explore social work.”

Dondo returned to St. Kate’s and earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2015. In her experience with social workers, she had realized that there was a lack of culturally-specific resources that took into account the unique experiences of her African immigrant community in Minnesota. She decided to create her own solution to this problem, and founded Phumulani in 2017.

In particular, she wanted to address the isolation that many women felt after immigrating from Africa — the isolation of language barriers and cultural differences that come from immigrating to a new country, amplified for women who live with an abusive or controlling partner who seeks to limit their contact with the outside world. In addition to connecting individuals with counseling, legal aid, immigration assistance, and other advocacy resources, the organization has regularly hosted healing circles — places for women to come together and share their experiences.

“I remember the first year we did them, we covered over 169 women from different African countries,” Dondo said. “We kept hearing the same story. Because in those circles, what we had established was trust building, and over 75% of the women in that cohort had been sexually abused as children, or on their path, there was sexual abuse of a sort. Collective to that testimony was the fact that they had been in abusive relationships — that’s why they were in the circle.”

The healing circles offered space for women to talk about subjects that are often deeply personal and widely stigmatized: sexual abuse, domestic violence, and the impact of trauma on mental health. Dondo speaks about the power of “naming it to heal it” and the effect that speaking up can have, not just for oneself, but for others, too. 

“I think we just have to find a way to end these stigmas and cancel the silence around this subject matter,” Dondo said. After she opened up about her experiences of abuse, her mother also came forward with her own story. “So by me speaking up, I healed my mother's generation and mine, and now with my daughter, we talk about it.”

Dondo references her education at St. Kate’s as an important incubator for her work and advocacy, and notes the importance of self-care, especially for those who, like many students at St. Kate’s, are going into professions that involve caring for others, such as nursing or social work. 

“St. Kate’s teaches women to lead and to influence, and if we want leaders who actually lead and influence in healthy ways, we have to do our own healing,” she said. “Or if we're healers, we also have to learn to study this particular aspect, which is one of the most common forms of abuse against women, but is not talked of.”

Learn more about . 

Here are a few resources that Dondo recommends for anyone seeking support:

Local Resources (Minneapolis and Greater Twin Cities)

Call: 612-871-5111

Provides free, confidential support — including 24/7 crisis counseling, advocacy, and support groups — for survivors in Hennepin, Carver, and Scott Counties.

Call: 651-266-1000

Offers 24-hour crisis counseling, information, and referrals for victims, along with support for families and friends.

Call: 1-866-223-1111 / Text: 612-399-9995

Provides statewide help for those experiencing domestic or sexual violence or trafficking.

Offers trauma-informed medical care and support for survivors of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, or human trafficking.

National Resources

Call: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Hosts the National Sexual Assault Hotline and survivor support.

Provides educational materials and directories of support services.

Offers online forums and peer support for survivors.

Call: 414-219-5555 / Text: 414-219-1551
Offers emergency care, counseling, emotional support, and forensic nursing.