Mauritius: Melodie opens her heart

I had a difficult childhood. My mother gave birth to my eldest sister after nine months of pregnancy but lost the baby. After three months she became pregnant. Before giving birth to me my grandmother influenced my father to leave my mother. My mother went to live with her sister. But the sister of her brother in law started to mistreat her. As my mother and her sister were both pregnant people started to gossip saying that the man had to wives. My mother’s sister was suspicious that my mother was having an affair with her husband. When my mother’s sister gave birth, the baby died. Three months after my mother gave birth to me. But her sister wanted to take me from her as she did not have any children. When I turned five years old my mother met somebody. They lived together and my mother was pregnant and gave birth to a boy. Since my mother met the man I thought he was my father. I called him father and he called me my daughter. My stepfather had a girl called Santana. When my brother was one year old, they separated for a month and then came back together after one year. He was not working and was drinking a lot, smoking and sleeping. My mother had to look for work to feed my brother and me. My mother got a job as cleaner and was earning Rs.1,900 per month. Her meagre salary was not enough to pay for food, electricity, sending us to school, etc. Sometimes she had to collect vegetables from the market. We sometimes went to school with some water and dry bread or some vegetables when she could. She sometimes gave me Rs.2 to buy chocolate to put in the dry bread. I had my period at the age of 12 and I also met my biological father for the first time. When I met my father my stepfather was very angry. He said he would rape me. When my mother heard this she told him that she would report him to the police. My mother did not trust him. One day when I came back from school my stepfather was not at home. In fact he was hiding. He appeared behind me naked. He wanted to rape me. My neighbours heard me when they heard me shout. They came and beat him and called the police who also beat him. He was sued. My mother divorced him. We are now at peace, thank God.

I had my first boyfriend at the age of 16. After one year we separated as his mother did not like our relationship. Over and above he was a liar and was running after girls. When I met Gaston it was love at first sight. We looked at each other without saying anything. He was going abroad the next day. He only said goodbye and I said bon voyage. We met when he came back to Mauritius after one year. We felt in love. Soon after he told me that he would speak to my parents to ask for my hand. He said he would marry me and the wedding ceremony was fixed. We got married on 16^th May 2011 when I was 19 years old. After three months I was pregnant with my first child. My son was born on 30^th April. After the birth of my son my husband started to drink heavily. He became impossible and it was difficult for me. When I talked to him he became violent until one day he slapped me. I did not let go of him. He apologised and said he was wrong. He stopped drinking for three years and soon we will celebrate our five years wedding and we have another baby on the road. Everything is now quiet by God’s will.