Sofia*, an immigrant girl from Mexico, came home one day to find her mother lying in a pool of blood, unconscious on the floor. She had been severely beaten by her husband, Sofia’s stepfather. Although Sofia’s mother had been repeatedly abused by her husband, this time it was more severe than ever before. Sofia called [...]
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When I married Kasim, I had no idea I was in for a lifetime of misery and violence.
My parents, especially my father, showered me with love and kindness throughout my early years growing up in Saudi Arabia. Yet, Kasim was nothing like my father, and instead of the happy marriage and loving household that I [...]
They told me that worms would come out of my clitoris if I was not “excised.” I will never allow my daughter to go through the same suffering that I did.
When I was five years old, my family forced me to undergo female genital mutilation in our small village in West Africa. No girl [...]
In December 2004, my family introduced me to a man in hopes of arranging our marriage. He appeared to be a promising partner—a handsome doctor with a bright future in the United States. At the time, I had accomplished much in my professional career and was ready to get married, which is why I agreed [...]
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I married my sweetheart. We met when we were both 14 years old, just schoolchildren. He left for the United States a few years after we met and told me he intended to come back to El Salvador. But after he had gotten into enormous debt, he summoned me to join him there to help work it off.
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I always dreamed of the life I could have had, if only my father did not die when I was a baby. Unfortunately, I will never know how things could have been, because after his car accident, my life dramatically changed.
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Bianca* and her three young children fled their home in West Africa when her husband’s family was preparing to perform the ritual known as female genital mutilation on her two-year-old daughter as a “cure” for her recently diagnosed dwarfism (considered a curse by local customs).
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My marriage to Duri* was arranged by my parents with the best of intentions. I was excited and had always dreamed of getting married. After a six-month engagement, Duri and I were married near my home in India, with hundreds of guests in attendance. Both Duri and I were dentists, and the plan was for [...]
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Some people can think back to happy childhood days. But all of my memories are only of violence and misery.
My name is Rana* and I am from Saudi Arabia. I was orphaned at a young age and left to the mercy of my two violent and cruel older brothers, Sa’ad and Ghafoor. Even when [...]
I grew up in a small South African village. I went to college, and became a teacher after graduating. When the government planned to redeploy teachers, I was forced to look elsewhere. I had always dreamed of traveling to different countries, so friends suggested I apply for nanny positions.
A friend introduced me to a woman [...]
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