Testimony from Nsekanabo Crescence, married, mother of 6 children (all girls), Gahahe Hill, Town Gitaramuka, facilitator since 2004:
"When I gave birth to my sixth child, my husband started abusing me on the pretext that the family line will disappear because of me. He beat me every day and I could not spend 3 days without he beat me. He never thought to buy clothes to me or the children. I was sufficiently traumatized and my children thought that one day I would die under the blows. He had kept me away from all household assets. As an example, when we sold banana beer, I served only as labor for the transportation of garbage without being aware of the price at which the beer was sold.
I looked for a strategy to change the behavior of my husband using my abilities as a facilitator. For this reason I took the initiative to learn reading and writing to my husband although initially it was not easy because of his difficult behavior. But I have not released. Subsequently, I invited him to participate in REFLECT meetings taking place on our hill. That day, we exploited topics related to joint management of family resources. Thus, my husband gradually started to change his behavior and now we decide together on projects of the family that we must implement, but also the expenses to be done regarding our income”.
