By Laila Risgallah PhD | Project Leader
These are the words written by Lina (not her real name), a 24 year old woman who was abused by her grandfather when she was 6 years old. She could not tell her secret to anyone because she was told that no one will believe her. I have been counseling her for months and she is on her way to recovery. I wish, I had seen her when she was a kid. I wish she could have attended one of the awareness sessions, or the school curriculum I compiled, or had played with the SKIT mobile app I developed. AT least, she would have known it was not her fault, and that she had to tell someone. She would have known that some secrets are not for keeping.
Here is what she wrote
:
“Living in peace, going about life as if normal, yet there is this gnawing fear that someone might discover my shame; discover the secret I have been keeping for so long. Carrying that feeling of fear, of guilt, the fear that my whole world might fall apart any second.
How will my husband look at me? Will he believe it was not my fault and that I was the victim? Will my son and daughter be able to talk to me ever again? To respect me?
That downcastness, that lump, or should I say brick deep within my being. Where did I go wrong? Or did I?
Streaming along life non chalantly loving God, loving my husband and children unaware that evil lurks in the darkness.
Whom can I tell? Or should I? Can it go away on its own? And if it does will my fears subside? Will they be forgotten? Will I ever be normal again? What is normal
I doubt it. One moment the world is a peaceful place, and the very next instant it is an ugly place to live in, with ugly bad people wanting to tear me to shreds just for the joy of being evil- if I can call that joy. Sick joy.
Then I meet people I see every day: do they know? Are they treating me differently? I understand normal words as demeaning because I think they know about what happened to me that ominous night at my grandfather’s house. I feel anger at him, yet ashamed of myself, as if in some way I am guilty although now, after months of counseling I realize it’s not my fault. not.
Where do I go? To whom can I turn?
Can anybody help? Help me anybody, I cannot go on living in this shame”.
That’s what I do, I prevent sexual abuse from happening to children through raising their awareness using the SKIT method: Say No; Keep private parts private; It’s not your fault; Tell someone.
On June 15th, GlobalGiving will be holding a Bonus Day with $110,000 available in matching funds. There will also be two $1,000 Bonus Prizes that will be awarded to the projects with the highest number of donors and the most funds raised on Bonus Day.
To donate, please follow this link, and help me abolish sexual abuse in Egyptian children.
Project Name: Train 200 Egyptian students on anti sexual abuse
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By Laila Risgallah PhD | Project Leader
By Laila Risgallah PhD | Project Leader
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