She felt that mainstream organisations she approached could not relate to her situation and cultural background. READ MORE: 'He cancelled my visa with no warning': how some Australians use partner visas to control and threaten migrantsīut it wasn’t only the lack of resources that Sarah came up against. “Upon returning home, I found that half of those items were actually expired,” Sarah said. And if it wasn't for me moving, I would have been dead today.” Culturally specific careīefore her ex-husband entered the apartment that night, Sarah had approached various domestic violence services for accommodation, but she said they were unable to help.Īfter living off packets of noodles for two weeks, Sarah approached one organisation for food. I didn’t believe what he was saying,” she said. “He told me if I wasn't going to get out of his way he was going to hit me. Sarah said she was taught to live “under the feet” of her husband and so, at first, she brushed off racist remarks he made about the colour of her skin and the colour of her passport.Īfter one explosive fight, where she said her ex-husband tried to drive a car into her, Sarah left the house where they were both living and moved into the apartment. “He’d say, ‘You're going to be in Australia on my terms and conditions’.” “My ex-husband would say things like, ‘Do you know this is my country? Do you know you have no rights? You belong to a country where you are not even recognised.’” She said that for some time, her ex-husband refused to sponsor her on a spousal visa, leading her to feel uncertain about her future in the country.īack in the country where she grew up, Sarah had a prestigious job and supportive family. Sarah initially arrived in Australia on a tourist visa. READ MORE: Preventing family violence in migrant communities “I called his mum and I said: ‘he makes me feel scared, he's going to kill me’ and she said, ‘Sarah, in our culture, if you want the man to love you and respect you, you’ve got to listen to him’.”Īt the time, Sarah - who was born in a south Asian country - was a temporary visa holder who had moved to Australia for an arranged marriage. Later, she said her phone lit up with text messages “full of abuse”. Shaking, Sarah told her ex to leave the apartment. “I seriously felt that was the end of my life,” she told The Feed.ĭespite Sarah taking out a restraining order against him, her ex had the keys to the apartment where she was living in Melbourne, as he owned the unit. Sarah* remembers waking in the middle of the night to her ex-husband standing over her bed and thinking ‘he’s going to murder me’.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |