K's visit at TASSC office
was so vivid to me. She had been so traumatized by her painful past that the
only thing that kept her from frequent thoughts of suicide was her daughter, a
daughter born of rape, but a daughter who represents the family, the love and
the hope that was stolen from K by her tormenters. Despite witnessing and
experiencing suffering of unimaginable violence, K has slowly rebuilt trust in
other people and has begun to create a new life. "Thanks to TASSC's Community
of Healing program." Retelling what happened to her causes
her to become feverish and psychologically unstable. Yet she feels compelled
to tell the truth. She always says people should understand the brutality that
drives women like her into exile, and also the courage that helps them survive.
TASSC's Truth Speakers program gives people a chance to talk about their
experiences. When she was a teenager in Rwanda, both of K's parents were
murdered in a politically motivated attack. K discovered her parents'
dismembered bodies where the attackers had left them outside the family home. Eventually she received
death threats similar to those that had been sent to her parents.She fled to her relatives, in another
part of the country, and subsequently to Uganda. However, violence continued to
pursue her and it was at the hands of the Ugandan army that K was subjected to
a barbaric physical and mental assault. She and her partner had been separated
when a group of soldiers seized her and detained her in a camp for 28 days. Thanksgiving Day 2006, K
and her 8-month-old baby were taken into the jungle. The soldiers told her that
they were going to give her "an award". They raped her and also made her
child watch what happened. Fleeing Uganda again to end up in
Kenya, K finally managed to get to the U.S. by the help of an agent. She was
raped again, this time by the agent in whom she'd placed her trust to bring her
to safety. She was then left alone to navigate a completely foreign country,
language and immigration process.
K was able to unravel her past and begin to build a new life
through three years of therapy and connecting with other female survivors at
TASSC. She always used to think she was the only person with all these problems
in the world but after joining the TASSC survivors group, she gradually began
to share openly with others with similar experiences.
TASSC's helping hands program managed to find her pro-bono lawyers
to secure her stay in the U.S. The asylum process is really time-consuming. Her
affidavit and testimony had to be very strong. She finally has been
granted asylum. She longs for the time when it will no longer be necessary for
her to recount her experience and when she can finally put the past behind her.
K has made remarkable steps in striving to better her situation. She is now
studying to become a nurse and dreams of the day when she will be able to earn
a living and build a stable family home.
She said, "I have changed; I go to school. I meet people, and I
have made friends. I really feel safe here. I have developed trust in people
and I don't feel like anybody is going to hurt me."
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