"Growing up as a girl. I was always known as the sweetest kid on the bloc. Before I got married, I have been through some relationships and for once no man had ever laid a finger on me. The first time it happened in my marriage I didn't understand it because I am not the type of woman a man beats but I guess there are no types. It just happens and no woman deserves it.

"As a young girl, I thought it was love or his way of expressing his emotions, [but] after every beating, he pleads, cries and says it won't happen again, once again I thought it was love and made excuses for him. Over the years, when it kept happening consistently, I started looking for other definitions for it. I started loosing my self pride, self esteem , self worth, and most painfully, I lost a pregnancy (Miscarriage) I almost lost my life in the process then I realised how serious and abnormal it really was."