nice faces, black hearts

I volunteer for an organization (to remain anonymous, of course) and had a shift last night. We were called upon to assist a woman whose husband had threatened to beat her 2 month old fetus/baby out of her belly if she did not agree to an abortion. Brought to Canada to be a subservient maid rather than a wife, she could not speak English, had no friends or family, and no financial resources.

Leaving most of the details out, she set out by bus to get away from the beating promised to her later that night and ended up on the other side of the city, knocking on doors. As someone who is relatively well-informed of the stretched resources existing for women in a similar situation, I don't think I would ever have the courage to take such a giant leap, much less in a foreign country. All this brave woman ever knew in her life was oppression and domination--she had no reason to trust the authority figures she fled to but it was a desperate attempt to save her unborn baby.

Through an interpreter the woman described her husband by saying "He has a nice face, but a black heart". Even so, like so many other women before her, she did not want him to be arrested. Unfortunately for her dark-hearted husband, it was too late and his arrest was imminent. My volunteer partner and I took the woman to a shelter and the house rules were explained to her via broken translation. I had a sinking feeling...if she couldn't understand where to get clean towels how will she manage to stay away from the familiarity and predictability of her husband's home? The drive to protect her baby is her only chance at staying away.

Will she get the support she needs? Will she stay away? Will she have her baby? Or will he triumph over her yet again? The statistics are stacked against her. It's probably better that I'll never know.