Women Shelter

The Women Shelter

The years have passed but the event remained in my heart as though it just happened recently. Unfortunately, couple years ago, I had to run away from my abusive husband. I moved to a women shelter with a lawyer’s help. The women shelter was the only place I thought would give me a hope, support and after all, protections for battered women like me. However, my impression on the shelter changed after I was admitted to it. There were number of reasons for that. I had to share a room with a stranger not knowing the background of that person even though the shelter organization assured me that everyone has undergone a screening process. I was also cautioned to be careful and to stay away from all women in shelter because some of them were drug or alcohol abused victims since they can be still under the influence of those addictions. The shelter itself looked as though as a communal building with lots of rooms for women. There were laundry rooms, a kitchen, a small library, a computer room and common living room for everyone. The new setting of living made me very uncomfortable to adapt a new lifestyle.

Surprisingly, the shelter become the most comfortable place I ever had. I met women in similar situations like me. I saw the glow in their face and the hope in their eyes to move forward in their life. I found courage in me after long time to see the world differently. Counseling and women support groups helped me to focus on my future and helped me to see outside the box. Even though, I did not have much communication with other women in the shelter, I empathized their struggles in life. I saw women coming and leaving the shelter when their goals are met, when they’re physically and mentally cured, when they gain all the strength they needed and most of all, when their past become the past. My entire notion about women shelter changed immensely. I became grateful for people like Adrianna for doing an incredible job of helping women in