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Radiating positiveness through her big bright smile, Ketty, a 36-year-old woman and mother of two residing in Chemin Grenier is an example of success. Her story is not a stereotypical one but behind her smile hides a dark past.
Mental abuse and tears were a common thing in her monotonous life. Ketty has been through a lot of mental trauma in her married life, she faced a lot of financial issues when her then-husband left her with an enormous amount of debt. She said went through things she did not know was uncommon, she thought it was a very normal thing for her to go through, abuse was just very normal to her at that point in her life. Ketty states that she always took everything that happened to her and around her onto herself, she always believed that she was the reason for her misery, so she never stood up for herself, even her children started to get distant from her. Suicidal thoughts started to haunt her since she felt helpless and unwanted. That went on from 2007 to 2014, where her mental health was not stable and stress was all she knew. Until she met up with gender links in 2015.
Ketty was familiarised with gender links by her mother who also is a beneficiary of organisation and she says that she remembers clearly the words said on that day like it was yesterday and that was when she realised what she was worth. She says that the courses she followed and the talks she attended boosted her confidence and love for herself. She then went on into the world with a lot of confidence and her radiant smile. She got divorced and fought for her rights and now has financial support from her ex-husband so that she can send her children to school. She is now very confident and strong, she says that even if her husband now fails to commit to his fulfillment, she knows what to do and where to go. Her relationship with her father has tremendously improved since she admits that before it wasn’t the case.
Ketty learned how to communicate with the people around her. Spending money was a big factor she could not control and now she has full control of her finances. She is economically empowered. But just when she thought things were getting better, she was being sexually harassed at work by someone in a higher position. She conveyed that it was so unbearable that she started getting depressed. She had to go seek the help of the law and filed for a protection order. With a lot of emotions running through her veins, Ketty expressed that the only thing left for her sexual predator to do was to rape her. But she didn’t back down, she knew her rights were being played with, so she made a police case against her harasser. But in the unfair work environment, she was in, they fired her from the job, without forgetting that she worked for 12 years in the hospitality industry only to get this kind of treatment. On top, her children started questioning why she left their father. Her life was starting to take a dark turn, going back to the dark place she was in before, but, once again, the strong woman she became, she continued to fight and she got back on her feet in no time.
“Ketty is a fighter and she will always continue to walk ahead,” she said, the things she has been through has shaped her in the woman she is today. She fully gives credit to Gender links for showing her, her worth, for making her believe in herself and teaching her to stand up for herself whenever she was facing injustice.
When she first entered the hospitality industry, she fell in love with her job which was in the mini club where she had to look after kids, which she says is her dream job since she loves kids. She has big plans for her future, she wants to have her own babysitting agency and she also wants to be a mentor and teach other women the things she know and even help them with their businesses. She says she remembers the first time she followed a course with Gender Links, she had a ‘’deja vu’’ moment where she visualised herself teaching others what she learned, and in fact, she did teach people what she learned and now her vision is to broaden her knowledge and then teach others like her so that they can better their lives, just like she did.
Her advice to the women out there is to seize every opportunity that comes their way, ‘’ if there is a course being offered, go! if there is a talk being held, go attend, if there is an empowerment course or anything like these, go!’’ She believes that by having a broad understanding of the world we live in today, women will learn and understand what they can do and where they can excel in. ‘’I lost my smile long before I met with Gender links, and if GL can bring back my smile, it can and will bring back the smile of many others, I know they will’’. Her entire life, Ketty thought she needed a man in order to lead a stable life, her train of thought quickly changed after meeting Gender Links. ‘’Gender Links has helped me tremendously in my life. I stand where I am today because of them! I can stand firm and grounded and there is nothing that can make me bow down. I can lift my head up high with pride and the strong woman I am today is unshakable, and I can a hundred percent give credit to gender links for showing me the way and paving the way for many other women.‘’
Ketty’s once grey life is now full of colors.
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