If Only She Knew

It was 8 March 2009 and the world was celebrating the International Women's Day. But Jane has nothing to celebrate. She was struggling with her wheel chair in a hospital ward nursing her wounds. Both her hands and left had been amputated following a brutul attack by her husband.

Her 13 year old daughter was not in school. She had to come to the hospital everyday to assist her mother. It all started in November last year when she had a fierce quarrel with her husband. Fearing for his usual bouts of anger that often end up turning physical, she fled to her neighbours house to seek refuge.

The next morning thinking that things were okay she went back home to check on her children. Her husband had left and left instructions that she should collect money to buy food from the nearest shop. On going to the shop her husband appeared and slashed both her hands and left leg with a sword. She fainted in shock and when she regained her consciousness she was in great pain and shock. The nearest hospital was miles away and she lost lots of blood before a taxi could be found to take her to hospital.

Her 20 year marriage was one that was characterized by constant violence by her husband. Jane had no option but to stay on as she was unable to get a job having dropped out of school at an early age to get married. As the years went by the violence escalated but Jane found it difficult to leave her ten children and she knew it would be impossible to feed them by her self.

Her husband disappeared after the attack. Jane has been left with ten children to feed and she has no means to feed them because now she even has no arms that can enable her look for work. She has also accumulated a large hospital bill and is often worried how her children are coping with her in the hospital. If only she knew, she could have left the marriage a long time ago and even if her chances of getting her job were slim at the time, at least she had her arms.