I was abused as a child, as early as 7 years old by my step father; my mother knew at 15 when I told her she admitted me to the Victoria hospital and left me there, one day a nurse called her for to come for me and promptly put me out of the house, I went to live by the neighbor and got into a sexual relationship with her son, when he found out I was pregnant he began hitting and raping me, tying me to the bed post and going to work, when my daughter was about 6 years he tried to rape her so I took her and run away, I was once again homeless, a woman with a guest house up north took me in and I cleaned and worked for her in return she gave me food and a room. Two years later I was walking on the beach and started speaking to a women who was also walking on the beach, she offered me a small house and told me stay as long as I wanted, I worked odd jobs and worked to take care of my daughter, I got involved with another man who worked at a printer and I got pregnant and had another girl, the abuse always starts when I got pregnant and he too tried to sexually assault my older daughter, I found a gun one day and decided I would kill him, but something made me change my mind but I was planning to kill myself and my children that day in December of 2016 when I got a call from the Women Support Center who I had gone to for help with food for my children and invited me to a retreat for women who were victims of domestic violence at the St. Lucian Hotel, the counsellor and social worker asked everyone to tell their story, we all sat around a table telling our stories, crying after which we had the counsellor speaking with each of us individually and collecting our information, we had lunch, spa treatments sent home, this is the day my life changed, someone had bothered to listen to me , a few days later I was called to attend counselling sessions three days a week including group counselling with the same ladies once a week and once a week for my children and the children of the other ladies who were at the retreat. I was trained on how to prepare my CV, dress and speak appropriately for job interviews, I now have a job and take care of my children.
