Read the full article by Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria at Hmong Daily News
When 33-year-old Jasmine thinks about her life, she reflects on how far she and her two children, ages 13 and 5, have come.
She arrived in Sacramento from Afghanistan in 2017 to join her husband, but unfortunately, her abuse began not long after. Isolated, her husband told her she’d lose the children if she went to authorities. It was her worst fear. With no money, job, English language skills or knowledge about her rights, she and her children stayed quiet and suffered.
The violence escalated one day after her husband physically abused her for buying oranges “without his permission,” says Jasmine, who is using a pseudonym to protect her identity. Barefoot, she ran out of the house with her children and slept in a park. With no place to go, she returned home the next day where the abuse continued.