METAMORPHOSIS

A newsletter published by Women’s Advocates, Inc

Volume XIV • Number 2 / May, 2005

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p.8 – Back page

FORMER CHILD RESIDENT SHARES HER STORY

As part of the (fundraiser for) “We Will Harbor You: A History of Minnesota’s Battered Women’s Movement,” Sharon Rice Vaughan, a founding mother of Women’s Advocates, Inc. and Elva Martinez, a child resident in 1975, spoke about their memories. Women’s Advocates received Elva’s permission to quote a portion of her talk below:

“In order to understand the difference that going to Women’s Advocates made in my family’s life, I have to tell you what it was like first. In my childhood home, my sisters and I would go to bed each night with our heads covered by our blankets, our hands over our ears to attempt to not hear our mother’s screams. We would quietly cry ourselves to sleep, knowing in the morning – the woman we loved, who had a strong heart, would be hurt, bruised, and battered. Then in 1975, we went to Women’s Advocates. I don’t know how we got there. I don’t remember the details of the work that Sharon Rice Vaughan and the others did with our family. I just remember that at night, for the first time, my sisters and I all lay in bed, with our hands at our sides and our heads uncovered, listening to our mother and the other women talk softly and laugh together, not crying and screaming. The staff and volunteers at Women’s Advocates were like angels sent to save us.”