Surviving Domestic Violence - A Personal Look And Escape
By Robert Thomas
In the area of police reported domestic violence - intimate partner and against children - Saskatchewan has the dubious honour of leading the nation on a per capita basis.
It is something author and inspirational speaker Kendra Weenie has experienced first hand as she was savagely beaten by her partner with his one hand as he held there few days old baby in his other arm. It was a journey of love, hope and wanting to have a man to love - it all ended in the lowest point in her life. The lowest point Weenie admits that thoughts of suicide crossed her mind as she tried to find not only a way to leave an abusive relationship but also somehow rebuild her life.
In her self published book Surviving Domestic Violence - Weenie delivers a powerful message of how her journey through life set her in a collision course which saw her culture, upbringing and life experiences leaving her helpless, dependent, submissive and seemingly unable to break free from a cycle of toxic people, failed relationships and unable to help herself.
In Weenie’s opinion some of it is a result of a loss of her Cree culture, religion, language and independence stolen a generation earlier as her family went up against the redidential school system and how its program of assimilation stole her people’s ability to function as a family and to show proper love.
It is a situation which left her scarred to the pojnt she was unable to truly feel love and care about herself.
The book is in many ways a cry for justice about a lost sense of being and how to reclaim it in a world which seems to have everything stacked against her.
This is a book of reconciliation and expressing not only Weenie’s path in life but it is also a re-awakening of a submissive woman who through necessity found the strength to somehow survive it all and in the end break free from the bonds which held her from growing into an independent person.
Although the book is written from a Cree woman’s perspective and experiences it does cross cultures and explains in plain everyday language the answers to the questions many ask why do those who are facing abuse and violence stay and do not leave.
The book also provides hope and the way out that Weenie took as she healed from her experiences and not only recovered physically but mentally, spiritually abd culturally as well. There is a sense of strength and self empowerment to be found. It is a guide and inspiration to those who find themselves caught in an abusive relationship that despite it all no matter what there is a way out and hope.
At times culturally the book may have its glitches and there are some points where a non-First Nations person could potentially struggle with the cultural concepts there are some very honest attempts in the book to overcome these barriers making it a cross cultural bridge into not only the abyss but hope as well.
Surviving Domestic Violence is an honest attempt to not only focus upon the viewpoint and journey of one Cree woman but serves as a universal hope for all survivors of domestic violence no matter where they are in their journey.
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