“Physical abuse and emotional abuse were constant,” says Jawhara Ahmed from Sana’a, a 30-year-old mother of four children. She has experienced things that most of us could never imagine. “My journey to hell and back started when I got married at the age of 14,” she says with a deep sigh from the bottom of her heart. “I lived in a violent marriage for years,” she says. “I was naïve.”
It all began when Jawhara’s mother convinced her to marry an aunt’s son. She believed that her aunt was kind-hearted and would give her a happy life, but her aunt’s desire to control everything became clear immediately after the marriage. Jawhara and her husband lived at her father’s-in-law house at the beginning of their married life. Her mother- and father-in-law were abusive. Carrying water cans, tending sheep and cleaning the yard were her duties.
“My mother-in-law took every opportunity to hurt me, demand more domestic work and belittle me,” says Jawhara. She used to tend sheep in the mountains to escape the treatment she received at home. “Sheep are attentive and understanding. They listen to me as I am telling them my stories and my worries. They love me more than the people around me.” A tear runs over her cheek.
