STORIES MOTHERS

PTSD is a horribly debilitating condition. Following a traumatic event, sufferers of PTSD are left with a worldview which has been altered profoundly and which often leaves them deeply afraid and anxious, the future may look bleak as they struggle to liberate themselves from the images of the trauma they have endured. This can be particularly hard for women with ‘birth trauma’ because they often suffer these problems at a time when everyone expects them to be happy and positive.  As a result, they often end up feeling guilty and this lowers self-esteem.

The work Help Women and Children is doing in Britain involves showing women the first steps to recovery from their birth trauma by listening to their concerns, organizing workshops, and by creating national and international awareness amongst other things.  The amazing work in the community of Los Huertos in the district of Chorrillos, in the south of Lima, is even bigger. The charity has not only successfully removed families from the vicious circle of poverty but is also dealing with different traumas by being a listening ear, counselling and setting up small businesses for them.

If you would like to get involved as a Partner by giving £2.99 per month, want to sponsor a child in Peru, buy their products, or want to raise money for this charity by doing the Inca trail or going as a volunteer, please send an e-mail to info@helpwomenandchildren.com

STORIES IN THE UK	STORIES IN PERU
Story 1 - I felt so ugly within me, full of anger and grief	Story 1 - when I turned 10 years of age…he raped me
Story 2 - I feel like suicide is my only option	Story 2 - My husband snatched my 9-year old son
Story 3 - I can't ring any of the help lines because I just cry so much I can't talk	Story 3 - My mother went to rescue me after more than 2 years… now I am 11 years of age
Story 4 -  My c-section appears to have been totally unavoidable. My baby was experiencing no distress. I think my doctor just got tired of waiting	Story 4 -  I was so poor that my mother had to give me away to a lady called Alicia
Story 5  - She stuck her fingers into my sore, stitched vagina roughly without asking and I just  started sobbing uncontrollably	Story 5  - I suffered trauma after the birth of my third child

Story 2 :My husband snatched my 9-year old son After 3 years of not hearing anything about the father of my older children, one day I was shocked to see him where I lived. He told me that a friend had given him my address and that he wanted to see his children. I already had a family with my new husband. Anderson, 9 at that time, was so happy to see his father, who took advantage of the situation. He lied about taking to the shop nearby to buy some sweets with him, but he never came back. When my husband arrived I told him everything and we went to the police to file a complaint, but they didn’t accept my version. Then I went to a lawyer, and she drew up all the necessary documentation.  I learned from people coming from my town that Anderson’s father was abusing him and that he desperately wanted to come back to me. This situation made me very sad because my husband couldn’t afford to pay for my trip but with the Help Women and Children organization, I can share with you now my victorious outcome: On Saturday 7th October 2006 at 6 a.m. I departed by bus from Lima, the capital of Peru, for a village called Coyllurqui in the Andes, where my son had been for more than two years. (See my story 1 for more details-hacerle link con story 1 de Stories from Mother in Peru) I arrived in the town of Cuzco at 2 o’clock in the afternoon the next day, but there was no bus to Coyllurqui so I took another bus that was going to a village on the way, called Cotabambas. I reached this village at 11.30 at night but could not find accommodation. I had met a lady on the way there on the bus, so I asked her if she would please put me up for the night in her house, and she agreed when I offered her a little money. She took me to her house where I had to sleep on the floor with a very thin blanket. The next day, with temperatures below zero, I awoke shivering with cold but very enthusiastic about the idea that I would see my son again. On Monday the 9th, I arrived early at the village square and waited for many hours with other people for a bus to leave for Coyllurqui, but there was nothing. I remember that there was a lady with three very small children who were shivering with cold because of the low temperatures in the sierra. She went to the village police station to ask for help for them to take her to Coyllurqui because there was no way of getting there and it was already getting late. The police inspector agreed to take us in his police car on condition that we paid for the fuel and also gave him money was a voluntary contribution. We had no alternative since we wanted to leave this village and reach our destination. The inspector told us to walk towards the way out of the village and that he would pick up us there, so we walked for two hours. My feet were already very swollen from waiting so long for the bus since the morning and evening was falling. The police car arrived and left us in another nearby village, which is very high up, and it was intensely cold. The inspector left us there with several mothers who had small children who were crying with cold. From there we all walked with great difficulty for two and a half hours until we reached Coyllurqui where I stayed that night.  I arrived shivering with cold and had a hot drink, thinking that the next day I was going to see my son, but I didn’t know how to get him back or find him since I didn’t have an address. I couldn’t sleep that night with all these thoughts. The next day, Tuesday, I got up early and went out to look for my son, asking people in the streets if they knew him. After several hours I met a woman who told me that she knew my son and knew where he lived. Then this woman helped me and went to call Anderson secretly because I was afraid of meeting his father and that he might do me some harm. A few moments later she brought him to me and when Anderson saw me he started to cry and he told me “I thought that you would never come!”. We hugged one another very tightly for a long time. I felt so sad to find Anderson in the state in which we was. He had very long, dirty hair, his clothing was torn and dirty like a beggar. His shoes were falling apart and his toes rubbed against the floor. His feet were black and he was completely abandoned. From that moment my son clutched and hung onto me, and didn’t want to leave my side for a second. The first thing that we wanted to do was go to the transport office immediately in order to take the first bus that was leaving on route for the capital, but when we were leaving the house of the woman that called my son, his stepmother came out to meet me with members of her family to hit me and take my son away from me again. I didn’t understand why they wanted to do this. Anderson started to cry when he saw such an aggressive attitude on the part of his stepmother’s family and I didn’t know what to do. They insulted me and pushed me, and all that I did was look up at the sky and pray to the Lord to save me from this situation in which I found myself. At that moment it started to rain so heavily that they all went home and left me. Then the next door neighbour took me into her house out of the rain. A girl from the village had run to call the police when she saw what was happening to me, and as happens in all remote villages, nobody took any notice. When the rain stopped I went to the Police Station myself to report what happened and they told me that it was not up to the police to sort out this problem. I felt so disappointed by these authorities! At the same time I felt afraid at knowing that nobody was going to defend my child or me if these people attacked or killed me. I left the Police Station frustrated at not having the necessary protection and when the policemen saw me they told me to go to the village Justice. When I left the police station those wicked people followed us and insulted and hit us, but we ran away from them and hid where I had stayed and the next day we went to the Justice.   On Wednesday the 11th, we waited anxiously until 9 o’clock in the morning when he attended to us, and I showed him all my papers, which were in order, and the necessary documentation. But even then the Justice asked us for money and I had no choice but to pay him for him to give me another document proving that I was my son’s mother and that I was coming to find him after his father stole him and now he had abandoned him, leaving him with his stepmother. The justice asked my son if he wanted to live with me, and he answered yes, and that he never wanted to be separated from me every again. Then he drew up a document authorising my son to leave with me for Lima. The stepmother’s family protested angrily in the court room but the justice told them that if they attacked me or did anything against me he was going to put them in prison, and finally they left me in peace. I returned with Anderson to the place where I was staying, washed him a little and we went to have breakfast. I took the things out of where I was staying and we left Coyllurqui. We walked in the freezing cold until 10.30 at night to reach the nearest village, since there was no other way of getting there. There I looked for somewhere to stay with the little money that I still had, and we found a room, but with no bed. Anderson and I slept on the floor but we didn’t mind about the cold, or my swollen feet, or our tiredness. We were happy to be together. The next day, Thursday at 6 a.m., we left the village on a bus heading directly for Lima and arrived at 8 o’clock at night at the bus station where my husband and daughters were waiting for me. I couldn’t walk well and it was had to get off the bus, but I was happy with my son at my side at last. I am very grateful to Help Woman and Children, which helped me to recover my son, paying for my travel, accommodation and everything necessary for my legal proceedings. I finally got my son back and now we are inseparable. We feel identified with this institution that helps women and children, families like us who were abused for so long. Mrs. Noemi Chuquivala, a representative of this organisation, worried about me from the moment that she learned of my situation. She helped me with her advice and guidance, listened to me and advised me over many months, visiting me constantly. I feel a very valued person with the desire to progress. I feel protected and now I can say to many women that there is hope, that there are people in the world who, through institutions like this one, transform lives forever. TO UP

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