The appointment was every Wednesday, from 10 am to 12 pm, on the fourth floor of the Delhom building, in downtown Worcester (Massachusetts).
It was a group of 20 warriors. Yes, you read it correctly, 20 warriors. Twenty women who continued to fight the most challenging battle of their lives: not living as victims, but as victors.
What they continue to overcome? These warriors have survived domestic violence.
That love story - the one we all dream of - turned into a horror story... First: "no more friends or family"; later: "you have to say goodbye to those miniskirts and tight clothes, the makeup..." And it goes on: "no more that job...," "the bank account is joint, but only I can manage it, you don't understand it..." "Where are you? You didn't respond to the messages I sent you 5 minutes ago..." "Without me, you are nothing, you can't make it on your own..."
And to psychological violence is added physical, sexual violence... The home becomes a prison, love a lie, the person an object, and life a horror film.
Only 4 out of 10 women manage to escape alive from this cycle of violence with scars not only on their bodies but also on their souls.
"Valeria," 35 years old with two children, survived twenty stabbings—a capable woman who can no longer trust anyone. "Ester," after 15 years of "life" together with her boyfriend, managed to literally escape with her son after 8 months of careful preparation. Now, she dedicates her life to speaking to the carabinieri about how to recognize victims and how to redeem them.
Jen, on the other hand, didn't make it... Her ex-boyfriend killed her after she had ended the relationship with him...
I walked and fought alongside them for three and a half years, accompanying them in this support group. We cried, we prayed, we celebrated daily victories together. But above all, they taught me that a woman's dignity has an indescribable strength to fight every day and make the great leap: to live as a survivor and not as a victim. But one must cling to this dignity and guard it, defend it at all costs.
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is celebrated every November 25th, and one of its most significant symbols is placing a pair of red shoes in memory of each woman who has been killed.
Instead, I would like to place a pair of gold-colored shoes for every woman who has managed to break free from the cycle of violence; for every woman who decides every day not to present herself as an object or be treated as one; for every woman who manages to live as a survivor and not as a victim; for every woman who can live without the fear of being a woman. Finally, for every woman who makes her dignity her best attire and her crown.
