Disabled Gaza woman about starting over after domestic violence
Nisaa FM: - Jana Mustafa used to work for a local NGO. But an abusive marriage and years of physical and psychological violence ended this career. She got a divorce with the legal help of the Hayat Centre in the Gaza Strip.
The Hayat Centre is supported by UN Women and is the first anti-violence center in the Gaza Strip.
From domestic violence victim to business owner
As she is adapting to her new life, a survivor of domestic violence, Jana Mustafa plans to open a small business to support her six-year-old son Jamal and prove that her disability is not an issue.
She tells about her disability, “I lost my left leg when I was one-and-a-half years old. It was from a faulty vaccination that my cousin and I received. My cousin died on that day.”
Mustafa says that she was never ashamed of having a disability. She always felt confident and dressed well. The job at a local NGO supported this image, especially since it provided her with vocational training. People used to wonder how she could have such job with a disability, Mustafa recalls.
When she met her husband, this changed. She tells the story, “I met my former husband through a friend about 10 years ago. I became his second wife and lived in a separate house from his first wife. But soon, he started bringing other women into my house and beat me whenever I tried to stop him. He also threatened me not to tell his first wife about the other women.”
When Mustafa’s family learned about his behaviour, they asked her to divorce him. But she did not know what to do... “As my family kept coming to my workplace, I started missing work to avoid them, and soon got fired.”
Mustafa says that she held on to the abusive marriage because of her son.
Her ex-husband did not support her financially. And he used her disability to make her feel weak. This finally convinced Jana Mustafa that she should get a divorce and consulted the Hayat Centre, where she got psychosocial support and free legal aid. “The lawyers at Hayat were really helpful. When I received the paper saying that the divorce is approved, I cried like a baby; I was so relieved. I used to be shy, but now I am a different person, thanks to the psychosocial help I received from Hayat. I speak out whenever I see injustice.”
However, Mustafa’s economic situation is still difficult as she have been unemployed for a long time. She lives with her six-year-old son Jamal on a government subsidy. She has applied for many different jobs, but all regard her disability and are not willing to give her a chance. Thus, she wants to open a small business, working with handcraft and hair styling. Her own business will mean that she will not have to be judged by employers who do not know what she can offer. She concludes that “Disability shouldn’t stop anyone from starting over.”
Source: www.unwomen.org