Discrimination and violence against girls around the world still persists. It is significant that 1 in 3 women worldwide have suffered physical or sexual violence and 2 million girls per year are at risk of genital mutilation.
MdM Greece in its Open Accomodation Centre “A Step Forward”, work every day and support these women so that they can take their lives in their own hands. One of them is R, who was born and raised in a Somali village. R was never allowed to go to school and experienced daily physical and verbal violence from her family environment.
At the age of 15 she decided to run away from home, and when she was found days later she was forced to marry a man 30 years older than her. R continued to suffer sexual abuse, which was the trigger for her to once again try to escape the daily nightmare she was living.
R, found herself homeless in Turkey and then traveled from Izmir to Greece where she was again sexually exploited. After being accommodated in a shelter for unaccompanied minors, during the first days of her adulthood she was referred to the MdM’s Greece Open Accommodation Centre, where, with the assistance of trained staff, she was enrolled in formal education, found a job and, after receiving all her legal documents, went to France for a fresh start.
Today R has left behind the abusive environment she lived in as a minor girl. Now she is a young woman with dreams who has taken the next step and lives as she wants, free, doing what she loves.
MdM Greece supports these girls and stands by their side every day to empower them and protect their rights.
MdM’s Open Accommodation Centre, “A Step Forward” resumed operations on July 23 after its two-month renovation.