SPEAK STORY
Have you ever wondered why a lot of women and mothers, in particular, are forced to put up with the ills around them despite the harm it could cause or causes them???
In today’s Speak Wednesday we would talk about the inhumane condition a mother is forced to condone, if help is not forthcoming, this may be her fate for the rest of her life and her children.
CFHI has been privy to the knowledge of a mother of four girls (Name withheld) within the environs of Abuja who is married to a businessman for over 15 years. This mother who has had her own fair share of misfortune in life is forced to live with her husband who for most of their marriage sexually abuses his children (four daughters).
According to the mother, for as long as she can remember, her husband has been abusing their four daughters sexually, and all attempts to stop him have proven abortive. She claims to have reported these atrocities to the police on several occasions, but after the husband is apprehended, he is released afterwards when he bribes the police officials. In her own words, which is paraphrased “I no longer seek their help or anyone’s but have left all to fate to take its place in my life”.
This mother reportedly has sought the help of the elders in her hometown, has even travelled to her hometown for the elders to call her husband to order, instead, the intensity of his abuse increases every time she returns to Abuja.
One may ask why she wouldn’t just leave him. Truth is, on the occasions she had tried, she realized that the burden of fending for her children and herself was unbearable with utterly no means of livelihood and no financial support from anywhere.
This story is disheartening because this is just the case for so many other women out there. The cycle of abuse normally leaves women with no money and nowhere to go because oftentimes, they are fully dependent on men to provide for their every need. This is why the need for women to be financially literate so that they can stand for themselves when all odds are against them can never be overemphasized.
Over the years, CFHI has provided thousands of women small grants to start-up businesses that can make them financially independent. Join us every Wednesday on all our social media platforms for more episodes of Speak Wednesday.