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Tahirih Justice Center

http://www.tahirih.org/tahirih/about/index.html

The Tahirih Justice Center was founded in 1997 to address the acute need for legal services of immigrant and refugee women who have fled to the U.S. to seek protection from human rights abuses.

 

CAMEROON TESTIMONIAL - ATTEMPTED FORCED YOUTH MARRIAGE AS BARTER - KIDNAPPING - RAPE - LEGAL HELP OF TAHIRIH CENTER IN USA

Cameroon - Danielle's Story

I led a normal life of a Cameroonian teenager. I had many friends and enjoyed school. I loved my math and science classes and hoped to become an engineer one day. Then, when I was 16 years old, my life abruptly changed. My family started to receive lavish gifts from a powerful chief in a neighboring village. As more and more gifts arrived, my mother grew suspicious and she discovered that my father had offered me as a wife to the chief, who was also a government minister. The chief was 60 years old and already had three other wives. My father never admitted to anything. When we arrived home one day, my father was hanging from a noose. Though we firmly believe he was murdered, officials said it was a suicide.

The chief later came to our home and told us that my father had promised me to him as a repayment for financial and professional favors he did for my father. He explained that when I turned 18 years old he would return to take me as his new wife. I had never dreaded a birthday so much. The chief didn’t come right away, and I was hopeful that he would forget and I could continue with my life. I was wrong. A week after my eighteenth birthday, the chief sent an envoy to tell my family he would arrive soon. I begged my mother and family to try and stop him, but we were powerless.

One day, the chief and four of his men kidnapped me when I was alone in my house. They took me to his village and locked me in a room in his compound. My deepest fears had come true. He came into my room the second morning and tried to touch and kiss me. I tried to scream and fight him off, but he beat me till my nose and mouth bled. When he left, he promised it would be worse the next time he returned. I lay on the floor in tremendous pain, too scared to try to escape and unsure if I would ever see my family again. That night, the chief returned; he tore off my clothes and raped me several times. Again, when he left, he threatened that it would only get worse. I thought I would die.

The moment my mother discovered that I had disappeared, she went to the police to report that I had been kidnapped. But the police only told her that there was little they could do against a man as powerful as the chief. My uncles pooled some money and they were able to bribe the chief’s guards to release me while the chief was away. I hid for two months in the home of a family friend. Everything in my life had changed.

My family decided the only safe place for me was in the United States, where I could live with an uncle. My mother and brother brought me to the United States and, though they knew it would be dangerous, they returned to Cameroon to protect my younger sister. I remained with my uncle and sought help at the Tahirih Justice Center.

Because of the legal assistance I received from the Tahirih Justice Center and my pro bono attorneys, Suthima Malayaman and Tristan Tyler, of Latham & Watkins LLP, I was granted asylum in September 2008. I can now live without the fear of being forced to marry the man who raped me. In a year, I can apply to become a legal permanent resident. For many months after the kidnapping and rape, I would have nightmares, migraines, flashbacks, and I couldn’t eat or sleep. Now, my life is moving forward. Tahirih’s Managing Social Worker, Allison Medina, has been helping me to apply to college and to find scholarships or other help to pay for my studies. I am now safe from the chief and am free to pursue my dream of being an engineer.





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