I\u2019m a 36-year-old woman from Morocco. I came to the UK in 2011 on a spouse visa after an arranged marriage. I have two young children who mean the world to me.<\/p>\n
Before I came here, I had dreams. I\u2019m an educated woman. I thought I would build a life, a family, and a future. But things changed quickly. My husband became very controlling \u2014 over my time, my money, even my words. I wasn\u2019t allowed to speak to anyone, not even the other mums at school. If I took more than five minutes to walk back from dropping off the children, he\u2019d accuse me of meeting other men and call me horrible names.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t allowed to learn English or attend any courses. He made all the financial decisions, and I had no say in anything. I didn\u2019t even have the right to spend money for the children without asking. I felt like a prisoner in my own home.<\/p>\n
There was physical abuse too \u2014 but I was too afraid to report it. One day, I called the police during an argument but hung up out of fear. That one call turned against me. He hurt himself and told the police I was the one who attacked him. He used his better English to control the situation. I ended up being arrested. The charges were dropped, but the fear stayed with me.<\/p>\n
He would threaten to take the children away and send them back to Morocco. I didn\u2019t know my rights. I felt helpless and terrified.<\/p>\n
It was a friend who gave me KMEWO\u2019s number. Making that call changed everything.<\/p>\n
From the first appointment, I finally felt heard and supported. KMEWO completed a risk assessment which confirmed I was at high risk and they referred my case to MARAC and Children\u2019s Social Services. They helped me understand my legal options, supported me to see a solicitor, and explained what a Non-Molestation Order could mean for me and my children.<\/p>\n
They also referred me to counselling in Arabic, which has been life changing. For the first time, I could speak freely and be understood \u2014 not just in language, but emotionally. I\u2019ve joined an ESOL class, a childcare course, and started attending women\u2019s support groups. I even started volunteering \u2014 something I never thought I\u2019d be allowed or able to do.<\/p>\n
Now, I feel stronger. I feel hopeful. I know my rights. My children are safer, and so am I.<\/p>\n
To any woman out there feeling trapped or silenced: there is a way out. You are not alone. KMEWO helped me find my voice \u2014 and now, I\u2019m using it to say: you deserve to live free from fear.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m a 36-year-old woman from Morocco. I came to the UK in 2011 on a spouse visa after an arranged marriage. I have two young children who mean the world to me. Before I came here, I had dreams. I\u2019m an educated woman. I thought I would build a life, a family, and a future.…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"project":[],"class_list":["post-12598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-studies"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12601,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions\/12601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12598"},{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kmewo.com\/ku\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=12598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}