Today marks the beginning of the Saje Blog. Running regularly, the blog will delve into many different topics ranging from the success stories of some of our Freedom Programme and Toolkit for Life graduates and the journeys they take, to pieces of information that we hope will help women living with abuse. In addition, we’ll inform you of new legislation we feel may be supportive and relevant, and provide you with links to helpful research unveiling a collection of facts and figures related to domestic abuse.
Also, we’d love to hear your stories so that we can, with your permission, present them anonymously as part of our future blogs. This will help people living with abuse know they are not alone. Hopefully, it will shed light on the steps they’ve taken to regain control of their own lives and free themselves from the grips of an abusive relationship. It also aims to help others understand what people living with domestic abuse and violence go through.
To start, one of our Freedom Programme graduates recently wrote a wonderful poem that encapsulates her experiences with the group she was a part of, giving a real sense of how the Freedom Programme gave her the tools to change her life.
Here’s that poem:
Put a group of strangers in a room
Throw Freedom and BOOM! Shake, shake the room
We were all strangers on the first day
Felt embarrassed and panicked, ‘May Day, May Day’
I would have run and so would you
It all felt weird and worse… taboo
We stayed because we were to shy
Not a shred of self-confidence left between us to even try
Each of us felt mad, bad, stupid and guilty as sin
Would have thrown ourselves in the nearest bin
But we sat, had a cup of coffee, listened and heard
We had survived the worst; why dwell on the absurd
Instead we all had a twin in the room with much in common
Someone else experienced what we did? Come on, come on!
Our little hearts match, they were all black and blue
All we could think of was OMG! It’s true, it really is true
By the time we left, we were in a world of our own
Couldn’t believe what happened! We were not alone
Some of us had lots and lots to say, others didn’t
We knew without being told: they wanted to but couldn’t
There were tough times; and outpouring of pain and raw grief
We felt others’ emotions and in our bruised souls it felt like rain
We always ended on a dream-like, positive not
Put a smile on our face, gave us something to smile about
We bonded as weeks went by; not that we even noticed
As a group we became strong, united and organised
We felt safe speaking about anything and everything
Each one of us willing to help everyone, that’s the thing
How can you share so much to then become strangers again
We couldn’t bear to lose touch, to only remember each other’s pain
Freedom took such a hefty, painful weight from our souls
We’re now ready to become our very own Freedom patrols