"Why won't you leave him"
"Leave and go to where?"
''Your parents, family member, any one you know who can help you out"
She sighs and with a sad voice that could make even the hardest person flinch. "I don't have anywhere to go and that's the truth".
I quake at such helplessness. It's terrible. It's sad. It made me very uncomfortable.
This lady I met one evening. It had just finished raining and it was a very cold evening. She sat with her three children clustering around her. Her husband in one of his fit had beaten her.
She ran away looking for shelter. An escape from the pain. But it's a cold world out there. Colder if you're a woman with nothing to your name. With no job, skill or capital to start a business, her life is at the mercy of a man who spends his daily earnings on alcohol and comes home to demand for food from the wife who had spent the day at home, doing nothing except worrying if it would ever get better and thinking if living is the only option.
When we tell women to leave abusive relationships, maybe we should define it well. It's only an empowered woman that can have the courage to leave. Sometimes, it's not even about the finances but about the mind.
We'll rant all we want on social media about women leaving abusive relationships but if there's no empowerment, it falls on deaf ears.
We know leaving is the best option. The woman who has to depend on her husband (especially a reckless, thoughtless one) for basic survival sees leaving as a death sentence.
At GEMS Africa(Girls Empowerment and Mentorship Scheme) founded by veteran Nollywood actress, Ini Edo, we believe that with empowerment and Mentorship, women can have the boldness and confidence to live their best lives unapologetically.
We need women in the digital, business, political, academic, economic and entrepreneurial space. This can't be achieved without empowerment and Mentorship.
We are changing the narrative. One woman at a time.
It's a done deal. Women are rising!
Go for Gold, dear woman. You deserve it. Work to earn it.