Daniela is from Central America, where she suffered over two decades of severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, the father of her children. She was hospitalized on three occasions from the abuse, once incapacitated for over a year. She tried multiple times to seek help, calling the police and successfully obtaining a protective order. However, the police were not able to protect her. Daniela’s boyfriend was never jailed for more than a few days at a time, and he ignored the protective order and continued his abuse.

In 2005, Daniela felt she’d run out of options in her home country, and fled to the United States to file for asylum. She appeared before a court in Texas, and was her request for asylum was granted. However, the government appealed. Due to the unsettled nature of the law surrounding gender-based asylum, her case was pending for several years. During this time of extreme uncertainty, Daniela moved to Virginia.

After years of waiting, Daniela’s next hearing was set for 2011—in Texas, impossibly far from her new home. The court refused to transfer her case to Virginia. She could not afford to pay a private attorney to travel to Texas for her, and no nonprofits had the money to fund the travel themselves.

Luckily, Daniela found Tahirih.

Tahirih’s Washington, DC area attorneys worked with Daniela close to her home, while her pro bono attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP in Houston prepared her filing. When Daniela flew to Texas, she used air miles donated by generous Tahirih supporters in Houston. Daniela and her team of pro bono attorneys at Mayer Brown and Tahirih staff drove to the courthouse in San Antonio where Daniela again took the stand to testify about the decades of abuse that she endured.

Thanks to Daniela’s team of attorneys and after seven years of waiting in fear she was finally granted asylum. Daniela can finally rest peacefully, knowing she is secure in the United States.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Daniela. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

Jean, like most Cameroonians, is a Catholic, and views Pentecostalism as an illegitimate, sacrilegious sect. He accused me of saying prayers to harm his business and told me that my religion disturbed every part of his life. Whenever I returned home from church service, Jean was waiting for me. He whipped me with a belt many times and once, he even threatened me with a hammer. He told me he would kill me.

In my religion, we wake up every night at midnight to pray. My husband would lie awake until midnight, and when I would start to get up he would pull me down by my clothing and force oral and anal sex on me. If I tried to refuse, he beat me and threatened me. Even though he would usually assault me in our bedroom, the children could hear me crying and could hear him yelling at me. Horrified and confused by the sounds they heard, they came to the door to see what was happening. My heart broke that they witnessed their father’s extreme abuse.

After my conversion of faith, I was abandoned by many friends, family members, and colleagues. However, I was able to transfer my job to a town three hours away by bus, to get away from Jean’s abuse.

But Jean stalked me. He showed up weekly at my apartment or office to harass me and attempt to rape me. One day, he attacked me outside of my office, hitting and kicking me. He punched me in the face and dragged me along the ground. I was hospitalized overnight for my injuries, and even after I was released I could not return to my normal life for two weeks.

Though no one called the police when Jean had attacked me in public, I went to them for help. They brought Jean in to talk to him, but wrote off the whole incident as a private matter “between husband and wife.” The police in Cameroon think a man is allowed to beat his wife and wouldn’t help me.

Finally, I was offered a way out. A Pentecostal church in Houston, TX invited me to the United States, too far for Jean to follow me.

I believe my husband’s threats and am convinced he will try to kill me. He told my sister that unless he sees my corpse, blood will flow. He also consulted with a voodoo master to kill me. Even though I do not believe in the power of a voodoo master, I know that my husband does, and his consultation tells me that he is very serious about killing me. I knew if I returned to Cameroon, he would find me again.

Thankfully, once I was in Houston, my church helped me find the Tahirih Justice Center. They connected me to my pro bono attorney, Carey Worrell. I worked with both Tahirih and Carey to successfully submit an application for asylum on my behalf.

I am now permitted to remain safely in the United States, far away from my husband and free to practice my religion without the threat of his abuse. I thank God for the Tahirih Justice Center and for my pro bono attorney, for it is thanks to their help that I am alive.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2009 alone, we received $7.65 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Mariam. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

M. Lisanne Crowley, Partner, Troutman Sanders

I found Tahirih through my former law partner, Susie Hoffman, the public service partner at Crowell & Moring. I think of Susie as the most dedicated, best connected, and most knowledgeable pro bono practitioner in DC, and asked her for recommendations of organizations that are good to work with and have non-litigation opportunities. Susie enthusiastically recommended Tahirih. I was attracted by her description of the close attorney mentoring and co-counsel relationships Tahirih fosters with outside counsel, as well as their holistic approach to client service. Having had a number of pro bono cases over the years where legal resources were inadequate to address the clients’ social, medical, and psychological needs, Tahirih’s approach to client service was particularly attractive.

The subject matter—immigration law—was daunting for me. My experience was limited to helping my nanny bring her Filipino husband to the United States. I was stunned at the complexity of the process, the confusing rules, multitude of forms, and amount of red tape. I was fortunate that one of my Troutman partners practices in the area and was very generous with his time in helping me navigate the process. That one foray was eye-opening about the value of having experienced counsel, but at the same time a reminder of what a difference any lawyer can make in helping a non-native English speaking, non-US educated client through this complex process.

My pro bono case was probably very similar to a lot of other Tahirih Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) cases—the client, Amira*, came to the United States in an arranged marriage and quickly learned that her husband had not only misrepresented his affluence, but was also an abuser whose violence eventually caused her to flee the marriage and end any further contact with him. Our biggest asset was the fact that she had had the courage to call the police after a beating and her husband was criminally prosecuted for domestic battery. As we mined the court records, we found more evidence of his abusive and unrepentant nature, which was very helpful in corroborating Amira’s story. Our biggest challenge was the fact that several years had passed since she fled the marriage and we lacked key information about her husband’s immigration status or even his current whereabouts.

Easily the biggest “highlight” of this case was Amira herself. Though she had been through a terrible ordeal that left deep wounds in her self-image and confidence, she is very bright and highly educated, and played a large role in the development and prosecution of our case. She was a pleasure to work with in every way—providing input and documents promptly, contacting relatives and friends to serve as supporters, making multiple trips to see me and collect other supporting materials. With Tahirih’s help, she had sought psychological counseling, which I perceived as a clear asset not only to our presentation but, more importantly, to Amira herself as she embarks on her new life in the United States.

Another highlight for me was the opportunity to work with colleagues at my firm, as well as at Tahirih, in a new area. I received valuable input from my Atlanta immigration partner, Mark Newman. Amira had lived with her husband in Illinois, and luckily my firm recently gained a Chicago office through a merger with another firm. I got to work with a junior associate in that office, Seth Erickson, who volunteered to comb through the court records for information about the husband’s immigration status. I also learned that our Atlanta office has a private investigator on staff, Lance Alford, and he provided some great insights as well as research assistance as we gathered facts to respond to USCIS questions. It was great to be able to tap the resources of our big firm to help Amira. And of course there was the wonderful support and expertise offered by Tahirih attorneys, who were incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and generous with their time and counsel.

As someone who has practiced law in the same field (federal energy regulation) for over 25 years, I am very comfortable in my narrow field of practice. It was both humbling and energizing to step into a totally foreign field and work collaboratively with people who are much younger than me but also are a lot more knowledgeable and experienced in this field. I learned so much, especially from Tahirih’s attorneys, but also from my young Chicago colleague, who offered some great advice he picked up from a friend who had worked on a VAWA case like mine. It was a good reminder to seek out and be open to different ideas and approaches.

Personally, I have so much admiration for Amira—a respected professional in her own country, she went through a terrible, degrading ordeal in this country. She has suffered emotional and economic hardship here, and yet is full of optimism and determined to put the past behind her and start a new life. She’s an inspiration to me, and I’m so proud to have been able to help her reach her goals.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

Become A Pro Bono Advocate

We are always looking for attorneys willing to give their time and energy to help women and girls in need. Participating in our Pro Bono Attorney Network offers you an opportunity to transform the life of an immigrant woman or girl.

To read more visit the Pro Bono Attorney Network section of our website. If you have questions or are interested in providing pro bono help, please email legal@tahirih.org.

Unfortunately, my husband Ndulu’s* family did not care about my career. They were from a different tribe than I was, and told Ndulu that women from my tribe were too hard to control. Though my job supported my husband, many of his siblings, and his extended family, living with them was misery. I was constantly insulted, with Ndulu’s family calling me names like “useless woman” and mocking my tribe. Whenever I tried to assert my independence, they turned their insults to Ndulu for not controlling me better.

Soon, Ndulu too began to insult me, beat me physically, and then rape me, in order to “teach me” to be “his woman.” For over two years I suffered his abuse. Ndulu dragged me from my bed and beat me with an electrical cord, slammed me into the headboard, slapped me, hit me, and kicked me. Once Ndulu’s beatings left me unconsciousness in a pool of blood and nearly caused me to miscarry our daughter. He kept me from seeking medical attention in all but the most dire of circumstances, so to this day my body bears the marks of his abuse.

I tried to get help. I went to our church’s marriage committee for counseling but Ndulu continued to threaten and abuse me in front of the committee, yelling “Leave me alone. If I had a gun I would kill her and nothing would happen to me!” Next I tried the police, but they told me, “Woman, that is a family affair. Go and submit to your husband.”

Finally, I decided to do the unthinkable and file for divorce. Nigerian women simply don’t divorce their husbands. I had a very hard time finding a lawyer to represent me, and even when I found an attorney he eventually withdrew his representation because of Ndulu’s death threats against him.

After a period spent in hiding and with no other options, I fled with my children to the United States where I found the Tahirih Justice Center to represent me and my daughters in an asylum claim. I am incredibly grateful for their help. When Ndulu contacted the US Embassy in Nigeria to falsely accuse me of kidnapping our children in an attempt to hold up my asylum case, Tahirih was able to help me obtain documents from Nigeria proving that I had legal custody of my children, ensuring my case went through.

When my attorney at Tahirih called to tell me that my daughters and I had successfully obtained legal status in the United States, I was so overwhelmed with joy that I had to hang up the phone and call back when I had collected myself. I am now studying to become a nurse so that I may realize the goals of economic independence and self-sufficiency that have always been so important to me. I continue to work with the attorneys at Tahirih to finalize the divorce and custody cases against Ndulu in the Nigerian and United States courts.

I specifically requested that Tahirih share my story on their website. I want others to know what happened to me, and having my story shared and knowing that I am supported is an incredible victory.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2009 alone, we received $7.65 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Uwa. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

When Sofia’s mother was discharged from the hospital, mother and daughter had nowhere safe to stay, so they returned to the only home they knew. Her mother told police that she was afraid of her husband and asked them to remove him from the trailer the family shared. The police arrested Sofia’s stepfather, but he was only jailed for a month. Upon his release, he went into hiding from the police and secretly returned to the trailer. He was outraged that Sofia had called for help. In revenge, he raped her. At age 11, Sofia became pregnant.

Sofia and her mother were afraid to stay any longer. Tahirih and a team of advocates successfully arranged emergency housing for them at a secure women’s shelter, far from Sofia’s stepfather. Tahirih, with the support of Crowell & Moring, filed a U visa petition for Sofia and her mother. On November 17, 2005, it was approved. At 12 years old, Sofia gave birth to a baby girl, whom she is now raising with her mother.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2009 alone, we received $7.65 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Sofia. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

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 dreamed of, I suffered constant sexual, physical, and emotional torture at the hands of Kasim for over two decades.

Kasim brutally hurt me all the time. He beat me for lifting my veil from eyes so that I could see, he beat me in front of our children (and often beat them, too), and he would beat me and call me derogatory names in public. Once, when I asked him not to beat our maid, he became furious at me, beat me so severely that he sheared my earlobe, and locked me up in the house for fifteen days straight. When I begged him to allow me to use the bathroom during this imprisonment, he told me to use the garbage can. I felt so humiliated. Kasim had an easy time getting away with hurting me because he was a wealthy, respected physician. He boasted to me constantly that he could do anything to me in Saudi Arabia and no one could stop him.

Kasim would force me to have sex with him constantly from the very beginning of our marriage. Once, when I gently told him that I did not feel like having sex because I had severe back pain, Kasim beat me so hard on my head and body that I lost consciousness. When I woke up, he had removed my clothes and was forcing himself on me. I felt sick and wanted to vomit. Another time, when I was in the United States for my son’s kidney transplant, I called Kasim, who was in Saudi Arabia, and told him that I used our credit card to get the tires on our car changed. He screamed at me for changing the tires without asking for his permission first and told me he was going to come to the United States to kill me. I was shocked when he actually showed up at our house in Virginia the very next day and started beating me. Luckily, a neighbor saw the beating, and the Virginia police came and arrested Kasim for a few days. After they let him out, he returned to Saudi Arabia, and when I went back, he punished me for his arrest by beating me for a whole day. He broke my left eardrum such that when I breathed, it felt as if I were breathing in air from my left ear. To this day, I suffer from problems in that ear.

After that incident and almost twenty-five years of this torturous marriage, I finally mustered up the courage to file for divorce from Kasim. I moved from place to place in Saudi Arabia so that he would not find and kill me as I was fighting for divorce. I am still surprised that I was able to obtain a divorce, because Kasim had the police come to arrest and harass my family members to threaten me to revoke the divorce petition. Even the judge tried to convince me to withdraw my petition. Kasim vowed to kill me when I got the divorce from him, and I knew he meant it because he felt I had dishonored his manhood. I decided to flee to the United States because it was the only place Kasim had ever been arrested for hurting me. I felt it was the only country that could protect me from Kasim.

With the help of the Tahirih Justice Center and Fidelis Agbapuruonwu at Mayer Brown, I was granted asylum in the United States in the spring of 2008. I wept so much when I heard the good news. The experience of a twenty-five-year long violent marriage will never go away. But I am finally free and safe to build a new life for myself and my children.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2009 alone, we received $7.65 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Mateen. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

When I was five years old, my family forced me to undergo female genital mutilation in our small village in West Africa. No girl could refuse, and especially not me, because my father was an elder in the village. I remember it vividly—four women held me down as I screamed out in unbearable pain. For up to two months afterwards, my mother poured a painfully scalding hot mixture on my private parts as part of this ritual. I was only a small child to suffer such pain.

But the next time they did this to me, I was a teenager. Because my family and village deeply believed that all women must be excised, I was compelled to undergo frequent examinations. When I was around fifteen, they determined that my clitoris was growing back, and I was forced to undergo the horrible procedure again. This time, my father’s wives held me down, and as before, my genitals were cut with an unsterilized knife and no anesthetic. As before, the procedure was excruciatingly painful, and this time, I bled for an entire day afterward.

Although I continued to experience pain and frequent, vivid nightmares of the procedure, I was one of the lucky ones in my village because I was able to go to school and get an education. In my early twenties, I met my husband Paul, who was a Christian, and I began accompanying him to his church. Paul and I fell in love and decided to marry.

In spite of the happiness we shared, my excisions continued to haunt me. The procedures resulted in physical, psychological, and emotional pain that I have carried my whole life. I endured the pain and heartbreak of four miscarriages. To become a mother, which is all I wanted, I had to undergo very painful corrective procedures in order to give birth to my daughter and son. Even now, after the corrective medical procedure, making love to my husband makes me bleed, gives me excruciating pain, and causes me extreme sadness because it robs me of my ability to enjoy intimacy with the man I love.

After my daughter, Marian, was born, my family told me that she needed to be excised. They believed it was their right to have Marian mutilated, and I knew they would punish me and forcibly excise her if I tried to stop it from happening. I was horrified by the thought and knew that I had to protect my daughter at all costs so that she did not have to suffer what I still suffer.

Paul moved our family to the United States for him to attend school shortly after Marian’s birth. I applied for asylum here knowing that no one in my country would protect us from the harm that we faced if we returned. Many of the police there believe women should be mutilated, and will not interfere in family matters. Thank God for the Tahirih Justice Center and my wonderful pro bono lawyers who took my case. They spent endless hours working on my behalf, and finally, in September of 2008, we won asylum in the United States. I am thrilled beyond belief that my family is finally safe and free. I look at my daughter everyday and thank God that I was able to protect her from the violence that I faced.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2009 alone, we received $7.65 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Faizah. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

The abuse began within the first few hours of moving into my new home. I was subjected to nearly constant physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. My husband exercised control over every aspect and dictated every detail of my life—from when I slept, to what I ate, to what I wore. I was shocked to discover that I had married a violent and possessive man. I was terrified and helpless, without any control over my own life. In one particularly violent moment while we rode in the car, my husband became angered because I took my eyes off him and looked out the window. In retaliation, he grabbed my head and slammed it into the car window, breaking blood vessels in my eye.

I was enmeshed in his abuse like a bee in a malevolent spider’s web. Escape seemed impossible; I came to the United States on an H-4 visa, a type of visa intended for spouses of foreign guest workers in specialty occupations (H-1B holders). I had no way of working to support myself. I was entirely reliant on my husband for my survival and thus endured the abuse for months.

A few months after my arrival in the United States, my husband decided to take me to the United Kingdom for a holiday. When we arrived at Heathrow airport, he was in a particularly cruel mood. He screamed at me and said that he and I should go separate ways on reaching our destination. After going through immigration, I asked him for some money. My husband ordered me to beg and plead before him in public. I refused and tried to use a credit card to change some money. Frustrated that he was losing control, my husband caught me by the shoulder and physically dragged me away while I was speaking to the woman behind the counter. He cornered me and began taunting me as I remained backed up against a wall. Frightened, I placed the credit card in his pocket and decided it was time to escape.

Without money and with only two pairs of clothes in my suitcase, I somehow managed to call my cousin who helped me find the courage to return to the United States to piece together a life independent of my husband. My cousin bought me a ticket back to Maryland where my relatives were living, and thus I escaped my husband and his violence. With the support of my family, I obtained a protective order against my husband and informed the police about the violence to which I had been subjected. My husband was arrested and charged with assault and domestic violence.

With the help of the Tahirih Justice Center and my pro bono attorneys at DLA Piper, Emily Caputo and Roberta Ritvo, I applied for a U visa, a form of immigration relief for victims of crime who assist law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of their perpetrators. On May 2, 2006, I was granted Deferred Action status, allowing me to temporarily remain in the United States. At that time, regulations governing the visa had not yet been issued. Before the regulations were released, many women like me had to renew our status annually, waiting in legal limbo until the provisions were finalized. Fortunately, the regulations were issued in 2007, and Tahirih helped me to reapply. Finally, as of just a few weeks ago, my U visa was approved, making me eligible to become a permanent resident.

The freedom I have found with the help of the Tahirih Justice Center, advocates at DLA Piper, family, and counselors has inspired me. I now volunteer at a local domestic violence center to try to be of support to women who are experiencing what I have endured. In addition to my full time job, I am also pursuing a career as a real estate agent. In my free time, I express my creativity by making jewelry and scarves. Most importantly, I live a life free of abuse and full of security and self-confidence.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2008 alone, we received $6.5 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

After Nine Years of Waiting for Justice, U Visa Approvals Finally Underway

After nine years of waiting, immigrant victims of crime are just now receiving protection under the U visa. These visa grants are a historic development for protecting immigrant victims of violence. The U visa was created in 2000 for victims of crime, but the government failed to issue the visa consistently until now. Throughout the country, approximately 14,000 U visa-eligible immigrants continue to wait for justice. Rati’s approval was the first U visa granted for a Tahirih client, yet other victims continue to face distressing backlogs and delays.
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I graduated high school and we married. We had dated for five years. When he proposed, he traveled to El Salvador to be with me. He proposed to my parents first, according to tradition. Then he asked me to spend my life with him. I agreed. On a hot summer day in El Salvador, we celebrated our marriage.

For the next six years, Eduardo* lived and worked in the United States while I stayed at home in El Salvador. He told me that women in America “got ruined.” I visited him at least once a year and had three children during this period—a daughter and two little boys. We all lived at my mother’s home.

Eduardo and I talked of living together in El Salvador. He told me he intended to come back, and I was happy to envision growing old together in the country. But then I learned that Eduardo had destroyed this dream by getting into enormous debt in the United States. He summoned me to join him there to help work it off. Once I came, I realized he never intended to return home.

By the time I recognized how much trouble Eduardo faced, he was already controlling me emotionally and physically. He monitored everything I did. He didn’t want people to see me in public. He was never this way before. Things got progressively worse. Respect between us started to disappear, and once it was gone, there was no longer a single thread of the relationship I thought we had.

The situation worsened when Eduardo began coming home drunk. I demanded to know where he had been, but he just raised his voice to scream insults in my face. We fought every night. He pushed me, threw me on the bed, threatened me, and strangled me. Throughout these assaults, he laced his violence with threats to call immigration to have me deported while the children remained in the United States with him.

One night Eduardo grabbed my hair and then pulled me to him to get a grip on my neck. He did this in front of his mother, who told me not to disrespect him as I struggled to escape his grip. I called the police, but my husband told me the police would arrest me. I told the operator I had the wrong number and hung up.

A few days later, I moved to a friend’s house and got a job cleaning houses. I struggled to pay all the bills for my three kids. Eduardo called to encourage me to come back home. I refused his pleas. After a few rejections, Eduardo began using threats by talking about the place where I worked and describing how few police monitored the neighborhood. I told the company I could no longer work nights. I struggled to move forward and keep my children safe and healthy.

Thankfully, I found the Tahirih Justice Center and they helped me get the legal status I was entitled to, separate from my abusive husband. Tahirih partnered with a wonderful pro bono attorney named Andrew McCormack from the law firm WilmerHale in Washington, DC who helped me prepare my application under the Violence Against Women Act. After some time, my petition was approved. I am so grateful that I am able to remain in the United States and care for my children.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2008 alone, we received $6.5 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy. The photograph included here is not of Isabel. Photo by Sergio Pessolano.

All the more because of this terrible experience, I hoped to marry a man that I loved, just as my mother had when she married my father. But these hopes were dashed when, as a teenager, my stepfather forced me to marry a friend of his named Cheikh.* I was only 17, and this man was 42. I had not even completed high school. I was devastated and cried throughout the entire marriage ceremony.

This very real nightmare only got worse after my marriage to Cheikh. He was violent and beat me several times a week—using his fists, belts, and even small tree branches. I still have scars on my body and I cannot walk without pain to this very day. He raped me constantly, starting on my wedding night, when he held my face down and forced himself onto me.

Cheikh believed that it was shameful that I was not “circumcised.” In our tribe, almost all of the women undergo female genital mutilation. However, because my father was against the practice, and out of respect for his wishes, no one had forced me to go through it. When Cheikh asked me to undergo the procedure after marriage, I refused. Little did I know that he was planning to force it on me.

In 2004, Cheikh drove me to his village for a “vacation,” during which I stayed with his family members. A few days into our visit, his family told me that we were going to visit some family friends in the village. When I entered the door of the “family friends,” I was horrified to see several naked girls on the floor who were being cut. When I realized that this was a trap, I cried out and struggled to leave the house, but it was too late. My clothes were torn off, and three women pinned me to the ground while two others used a dirty knife to mutilate me. The pain was excruciating, and I struggled and screamed throughout the procedure.

I couldn’t walk normally, and I experienced recurring bleeding for several weeks after the procedure. When I returned to Cheikh, it was even more painful than before when he resumed raping me. He also continued beating me with as much fervor as before.

After unsuccessfully trying to run away from Cheikh on two different occasions, I finally got my chance to flee when my aunt and mother made secret arrangements for me to leave Guinea. After I arrived in the United States in 2006, I learned about the Tahirih Justice Center. Tahirih partnered with the great attorneys that worked on my asylum case, Kyle Cohen and Sara Zogg, from the law firm of Howrey, LLP. Due to their hard work on my behalf, I was granted asylum by an immigration judge in 2007, just a couple of days before Thanksgiving. I still don’t know how to thank my attorneys and everyone at the Tahirih Justice Center for all of their support throughout this difficult process. They are all truly my heroes.

Make Another Victory Possible

Our work helping courageous women and girls is only possible with support from individuals like you.

Donate now to ensure that Tahirih can respond to urgent pleas for assistance. With Tahirih’s unique model of leveraging pro bono legal services from outside professionals, we are able to magnify the power of your gift. In 2007 alone, we received $4.8 million worth of donated services, turning every $1 you donated into $5. Your donation has a truly life-changing impact.