Action Against Domestic Violence
To help prevent domestic violence, we would like to share with you one of our mother's battles with this ever-growing mistreatment and abuse.
My name is Akhi, I am 32 years old and I have five children, four girls and one boy.
I was married at 16, my father was a driver and he had five wives. My mother was his first wife so I grew up without my father’s support.
My husband was also a driver and in the beginning of our marriage he was very loving. However, this all changed when he became heavily addicted to drugs, the drugs not only changed his life but they also changed mine. My husband started to hit me many times, he beat me so much it was humiliating, I couldn’t tolerate it anymore. One day I tried to run away from my house but he caught me and started to beat me black and blue, I had so many injuries that I had to be admitted into the local hospital. I thought I was going to die that day but I managed to survive.
After I regained my strength, I divorced my husband and came to live at The Sreepur village. I have been here two and a half years now and I can safely say it feels like my own home. My children are going to school, and even I am attending literacy classes. When I was in my community I couldn’t communicate with other people but now I can talk freely with other people and at ease. I can also read and write now and my favourite income generating training is tailoring. I hope in the future I can independently manage my family.
Following my traumatic past, The Sreepur Village has given me a second chance in life one I never thought I would have again. It is because of The Sreepur Village that I can sleep safe at night.
The Sreepur Village takes action against Domestic Violence by providing more women and their children with a safe place they can call home. The village in Bangladesh is their home for up to three years, during which time they are cared for and taught a number of life-saving skills so that they never have to go back to their past lives of poverty and fear.