2010 Annual Report - This is Hagar

2
3
becoming human again
Shukria’s Story
My friends and family used to call me energetic. Happygo-lucky.
But my first husband beat the life out of me. I
was 13. He could have been my grandfather. He sold me
when he got tired of me.
Like a cow. Or a camel.
After raping me, the next man sold me too. I became
my second husband’s third wife (and a third mother to
his 13 children). Before we met his family, he stood by
and watched while six border guards raped me. Then he
locked me up in his house like a dog.
I still don’t remember how, but I escaped. The police
brought me to Hagar.
I was so angry. I smashed things and screamed. I couldn’t
control myself.
I was an animal.
After a few months at Hagar, though, I started to calm
down. I experienced love. Now I’m not angry like I used to
be. Because now I know that I am human.
The scars on my body and my heart prove that – that’s
something Hagar helped me see. And the scars mean that
I am healing.
At the end of 2010, Hagar staff supported Shukria’s (not
her real name) reintegration to her family in Pakistan.
Through local partners in the country, Hagar is ensuring
she is being followed up.
“And the scars
mean that I am
healing.”