The Future i dream of

Growing up as a young girl I witnessed many girls and women around me being subjected to domestic violence. This was very terrifying for me but one of the male figures in my life told me that according to culture if a man did not beat his wife he did not love her. So I grew up knowing that the only way for a husband to show affection to his wife or daughters was through a good beating.

When I started working in a non- governmental organization I was presented with a very shocking case on my first day at work. This case was referred to us by a laboratory technician of a famous hospital. She had carried various tests on this family on different days and found out that all the members of the family were HIV positive. This family was of Arab origin, a mother, her two daughters and a grandchild aged 3 years. After a long talk with the mother I learnt that her current husband was not the father of her two daughters and that he told her he had to have sex with her daughters in order not to bring other women in his house. She accepted and as a result one of daughters got pregnant and gave birth. When they started falling sick they were asked to test for HIV ,and to their shock they were all positive. Her husband refused to test and claimed that they must have been sleeping around and that he was not the one who infected them. This woman confided in me and told me that her husband beats them on a regular basis and because they have no where to go and no else to support them they do not report the matter to the police. She begged me not to report the matter to the police and not to make it a public matter. After serious consultations with my supervisor we decided to take them for counseling and before we knew it they had left the country, we do not know to where. This case has puzzled me up to today and I keep wondering what could have happened to them.

It is because of cases like this and many others that I have handled, that I have looked for someone to confide in. My passion for social change lead me to world pulse and I believe the Voices of our future program will help me be a strong voice for women and girls in my country.

I realized that it would be good to share my stories with women who can advice me on how to handle such delicate situations. I believe that this program will teach me how to ensure that the voices of these women are heard and this will create advocacy for gender based violence and one day I know through our on line community and advocacy the world will free from gender based violence. THE FUTURE I DREAM OF......