My name is Zena Briggs. I have lived my life on a witness protection scheme where my name, county and city are protected for my own safety, all because 16 years ago, I fled an arranged marriage.
In 1997 I wrote a book, and am very proud of what it achieved. It created debate, caused a media frenzy, and put the Forced Marriage issue never known or discussed about before smack bang on the table. Government could not ignore it and no longer sit on the fence about it. The book was read out in the House of Commons by Ann Cryer MP. This created the first women’s working group looking into ethnic minority murders, now termed as “honour killings”.
I did not come from a violent or abusive home quite the opposite. As a child I never went without, I was the apple of my father’s eye, until that early frosty January morning of 1993, when I lowered my bags from my attic window, crept slowly down two flights of stairs and climbed out of the kitchen window, knowing when they awoke in the morning I would be gone forever, never to return to the safe haven I once called home.
The first contact after I left said it all; a “bounty hunter and a private investigator had been hired to track me down”. Once returned, I would end up in several bin liners (and this was no fashion statement).
The Foundation is a financial institute which will help victims of CAM & DV survivors that approach the police or an organisation that have no recourse to public funds.
Imagine, a woman in her thirties leaves in the middle of the night, and arrives at the local police covered in bruises, and in fear of her life and that of her child, fleeing her abusive partner who has beaten her frail tiny body to breaking point. She has mustered the little amount of courage left in her body and mind to get her to this point. However, police resources are low and she does not fall into certain criteria. The police then ring the local refuge that has no rooms available. So she has to decide what to do? Her greatest fear is that her baby might be taken away from her by the Social Services for its own safety, as this has been drilled into her by her abusive partner, or does she go back home, until something or someone can come to her aid.
IF, she returns home with her baby knowing he will be waiting for her. Angry, annoyed and frustrated. What will she endure? She walks in through the door and a fist flies at her, missing the baby and landing on her tender slim cheek bone. He shouts and screams abuse, the baby is crying, and he gets angrier, and hits out again. A broken nose, a black eye and he shout to shut the baby up. He grabs the baby from her arms and throws her across the room. She struggles to hold on, as her arms are too weak from the previous beatings. He punches her again with such force that you hear a thud as she hits the floor. He kicks her in the stomach and you hear a crack of a rib, and she lets out a scream and rolls in pain. He pins her to the floor telling her, she has only herself to blame. As she knew leaving would only make him worry and concerned for their well being. He strokes her hair and face and kisses her bleeding lips, then unzips his trouser, rips off her dress to reveal her broken body, and tells her “you will enjoy this as making up is the best thing after we have argued.” She knew from previous scratch and bite marks left on her body what he meant by enjoyment. He takes control of her body while her tiny lifeless frame lays still and broken.
According to Refuge many women stay in DV home, rather than face financial hardship. The Forced Marriage unit at the Home Office have shown that figures have risen by 80% in 2008, as families are hiring Bounty Hunters to track victims of CAM (as highlighted in 1997 by Jack and Zena in their book Runaways). Mr Wayne Ives, head of the FMU said “it’s not simply a cultural ceremony. It is people being abused, being raped”. South Hall Black Sisters have estimated 600 women who arrive here in the United Kingdom as dependants become victims of DV. Sadie Ashiq who works for the Rochdale homelessness unit dealt with 9 women who had no recourse to public funds, and says “that this is creating an underground sex industry”. A social worker complied a report in September ’07 revealing that, at that time 17 women faced destitution in Rochdale alone. The Imkaan organisation in London dealt with 537 applications, 47 whom had children where refused housing and support.
However, there is hope and help. A Foundation that will give continuous support, working together with the help of great individuals who believe in making a difference, and contributing to help inspire, give strength, and belief to those who need our helping hand the most.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time, and would like to finish by saying “being a Yorkshire lass” I am not shy in asking, PLEASE support the Zena Foundation, and become a part of something great. Whatever support you can give will be greatly received. Please feel free to forward this letter to others who might be interested in the Zena Foundation.
