Caritas Australia has been working to prevent domestic violence alongside our Partners in places like Timor-Leste.
Escaping violence was the first step in Martina’s journey to a new life, both for her, as well as her eight children.
Martina bravely approached the Uma PAS organisation, a domestic violence shelter that is a partner of Caritas Australia’s Protection Program, with her eight children in 2008, seeking refuge and help.
Domestic violence is the most reported crime to the National Vulnerable Persons Unit in Timor Leste, with 36 per cent of women reporting violence – physical and/or emotional, by their husbands or partners.
The holistic approach of Uma PAS, enables women to achieve economic empowerment and lives of safety in a supportive community.
“Uma PAS really helped me [to learn] how to be strong; how to change my life to support myself, and to have some money to support my children.
“Education is the most important thing to change my children’s lives,” Martina said.
When she joined the Caritas Australia supported Protection Program, she received vital training in microfinance, finance management and saving money, and now she has her independence and even her own small business.
Domingas, a counsellor from the Uma PAS shelter, spoke of how the Caritas Australia supported program helped Martina achieve great success.
“Uma PAS works together with a local NGO, recommending the women who most need it [for] training and funding for income generation and livelihood; and then they are supported to start their own business.
“Each person comes to our organisation with their own dignity. The 260 women that I have given counselling to have realised that they are not alone. And they see there are people that are here and wanting to listen, and are ready to help.
“The other services we provide at Uma PAS are shelter, clothing, food, and activities like practical counselling: cooking, sewing, gardening and baking,” Domingas said.
“Before women go back to the community, Uma PAS has a wide consultation with the village head and family members [to] get assurance that she is going to a safe place. We also do follow up visits … trying to see how we can support better.”
“The Martina I know today is the confident Martina, who stands up and says, “This is me you see; this is Martina” – she’s confident to go forward,” she concluded.
For Fernando Pires, Country Representative of the Timor-Leste Program for Caritas Australia, prevention and accompaniment work – walking with women on their journeys – is a crucial element of the program.
“We accompany survivors of domestic violence to a better future by providing the shelters, and by linking them with police, health and other services offering direct support — microfinance, education for their children, and legal services.
“We also support our local partners to do prevention work. They run community training with men, to help change their attitudes and reduce violent behaviour,” Fernando said.
Please donate to Project Compassion 2017 and help empower domestic violence survivors, like Martina, in Timor-Leste to build a secure future, and live in communities that uphold everyone’s dignity.