Its never too late
“The beating became an everyday process.”
Mutale Victim Empowerment Programme changed my life for the better. I never thought that I could amount to anything in my life. I thought that this was my life, that I was born to suffer in life that happiness was not for me.
I am a 33 year old woman. I have 3 children. I got married when I was 16 years to my boyfriend, well I can say we run away from home because my parents refuse to accept our relationship. We found a place and started a family together. He found a job and I stayed at home to take care of the children.
He lost a job and started drinking a lot and he began beating me every now and then and would say sorry after and I would forgive him every time. The beating became everyday process and he would even say I am a curse in his life. One day he beat me in a way that I ended up in a coma. They say I was in a coma for two weeks and when I woke up I was told that my husband killed himself thinking that I died.
That is when I was referred to Mutale Victim Empowerment Programme for counselling. They invited me in one of the programme of HWSETA skills programme that was being conducted there and when we get there, they were teaching people of ways to start something of their own like planting vegetables to get income.
I had no other income since my husband died. I started planting tomatoes and vegetables at my yard and when they are ripe, I sell them to my neighbours and other people in the community. Now the community knows that I sell fresh vegetables in my house and this has become a source of income to support my children and put food on the table.
I am planning on buying a small plot to plant vegetables so that I can distribute the vegetables to local supermarkets.
I would have never been able to start this small business if it was not for Mutale Victim Empowerment programme who invited me to that workshop that day.