By United Church of Zambia
July 8, 2024

Tina Siamujemu, 26, a mother of four, lives in Zambia, where an estimated 43 percent of married women experience physical violence and trauma at the hands of their husbands. Through Self Help Groups, World Renew and our partner, the United Church of Zambia, is working to change the story of gender injustice. Tina, a participant in a Self Help Group, was willing to share her story.

Tina says, “After I got married in 2007, I was abused physically, verbally, and emotionally. My husband beat me and insulted me. He used whatever money he worked for on alcohol and on his girlfriends.” With no financial support from her husband, Tina, who worked as a housemaid, struggled to support her family. To add to her struggles, she says, “He would follow me to work to beat me up. Things got worse each day.” But Tina did not give up.

To better support her family, Tina started her own business making snack chips to sell. But her husband’s violence continued and during one of his outbursts he destroyed the supplies and equipment Tina used to make the snacks. He beat Tina in public, even attacking her at church. “I developed high blood pressure, and the children were all traumatized,” Tina says.

Finally, drawing on strength from her Self-Help Group, Tina got the courage to seek a divorce and find some peace for herself and her children. “I decided to sue for divorce because I could not stand the abuse, torture, and pressure,” she says. But Tina’s courage didn’t stop there.

Child marriage is another form of gender-based violence in Zambia, and because of what Tina had learned through the Self-Help Group, she intervened when her 14-year-old niece got pregnant. “The parents wanted to force her into marriage, but I encouraged them to take her back to school. She has a right to education,” Tina says. Thank you for your gifts that are helping women like Tina to change the story of gender injustice.