Last year, I’ve worked with an NGO that fights against domestic violence, Necuvinte Association.
During my short stay with them I have also came in contact with women (many with children) that were the victims of their partners’ abuse. Some really eager to get rid of them and to obtain a restriction order, others that still had the hope that their partners will get better, even though the evidences were clear that they won’t and some that with a little psychological help recreated part of the couple’s harmony.
Some cases were softer and some harder, making you think of what keeps them there, a victim of an abusive partner, being it physical, mental, verbal etc. Why do we cling on that toxic “love”, what’s more important than our health, our children’s or other relatives health.
My colleague, Simona, that believes with her whole heart in the mission of this organization, had an idea of a project about women that got into prison because they have murdered their husbands when they couldn’t stand anymore the violence.
So I had the opportunity to be present at the first interview that took place in Târgșor Women Penitentiary. After more than a hour of listening, questions that were raising other questions and many written papers we were quite in a different state of mind.
You know that things like this happen, you hear it at the news, from people you know or you have some relatives that show their affection with a slap and some punches. And just by that you get chills. Imagine when you hear why and how a woman murdered her husband because she couldn’t no more. And I cannot imagine what they feel, how strong the love for a man or woman can be, how big the fear can be that you stay like paralyzed in that hell.
At the second interview went only Simona, but she described with a luxury of details all the stories… and we were pretty shocked. My directly work with the organization ended at the moment, but we stayed in contact and I was really eager to see how it will look the final produc as I already knew that the impact will be big.
But, the introduction was quite long for what I was actually trying to show you. The idea became a national campaign, Broken Wings.
On the 1st of July, Necuvinte Association in partnership with the Romanian Police launched the first national campaign Broken Wings. The central point of this campaign is the documentary “Broken Wings” realised with the support of Castel Film and the National Administration of Penitentiaries. The documentary presents the victims of domestic violence in Romania through several cases of detained women from Târgșor Women’s Penitentiary. The documentary is built around the stories of women who have lived a life of abuse and fear, what motivated them to withstand years of cruel sufferings, not to ask anyone’s help and getting to a point where they gave up all hope and changed the roles from victim to aggressor, making their own justice.
Part of this campaign is also the Safety Guide for the Victims of Domestic Violence that starting with the 1st of August will be distributed to all police stations nationwide. This guide is for people who understand that they are in an abusive situation and take the first steps towards leaving that environment.The guide will be distributed along with posters that will be posted in the notice boards of every apartment building. This posters are created to aim “the black number” of domestic violence, the people that are not found in any statistics, that never talked about what they are living.(Necuvinte Association)
I leave you here the documentary, I advise you to watch it till the end and then think of the situations when you did nothing, when you were neutral or how you will behave next time you see that someone you know, or not, someone on the street, is the victim of any kind of violence.
If you don’t feel comfortable in your relationship here you can find the signs that show you if it is an abusive one: physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial or spiritual. http://www.necuvinte.ro/what-is-domestic-violence/?lang=en
Running thoughts 