7 of 16 Stories on Gender Based Violence

Violence begets violence

I was tired of being the punching bag all the time, so one day I decided to return the favour. On that fateful day my husband came home at 2 am, drunk as usual, demanding food and making noise about how I didn’t deserve to be in his house and how much of a favour he had done by marrying me. I had heard those words everyday for the past 2 years and had decided I had heard enough of it.

Unlike the other days, there was no food waiting for him, so he started his usual boxing game, but unfortunately he did not receive the response he had expected. I picked up a pot that I had strategically placed on the kitchen table and returned the favour. Because he was too drunk to balance his own body, I was at an advantage. I beat him up so hard and even picked up the bottle of beer he had in his hand to help me finish the job. Our neighbours interrupted as usual, only to find him bleeding profusely from his head. The man next door took him to the hospital while his wife remained home with me trying to calm me down.

She told me she understood why I was so angry but beating him was not the way to solve issues as it would only bring more violence to our home. Honestly at that point I was already regretting my actions, but I had kept so much rage bottled up and it was obviously bound to explode one day.

For two years I had lived with a man who hurt me physically and emotionally as he continuously belittled me. He never left any money to buy food at home but expected to find food on the table everyday he came home from work, knowing very well he had made me stop working.

When he came back the next morning, he had changed his attitude and was starting to preach about how fighting is not good and how we are meant to live peacefully together. Whether the incidence helped him see the light and reform, I don’t know. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Each time I looked at him I got filled with so much anger, so I decided to leave.