They promote a march against sexual violence “I say no more” and ask to join efforts to end this pandemic

The COVID pandemic-04 has so far left more than 48,00 0 deaths and 5 million infections in every corner of New York. But silently, and without being able to know for sure the magnitude of the seriousness of the situation, sexual violence has become another pandemic, of which it is estimated that every 9 minutes a child is being abused, with consequences for life.

This is how María Trusa, a survivor of sexual violence, denounces it, who 43 years after being abused in her native Dominican Republic, when she was just a 9-year-old girl, she decided to reveal her own story of pain in order to “heal herself”, help other victims, and prevent new attacks.

And this Saturday, during the end of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, via of the “I say no more” movement, which was created a year and a half ago, together with community leaders, members of the Yonkers school district, the third largest in the state of New York, and the local Mayor’s Office, Trusa is promoting a march against sexual violence north of the Big Apple.

“With the march ‘I say no more’, we seek to make a call against violence that affects all Hispanic families, that has become another silent pandemic, that destroys lives and millions of people, where in more than 81% of cases, the person who abuses the children and who he steals their innocence, he is someone who is in the family or close to the family”, assured the activist and writer.

Trusa, who also én has a YouTube channel where he addresses the issue, he stressed that the walk, as well as a series of workshops on sexual violence that will take place as part of the initiative, are important steps to help “break the silence” about the abuse epidemic and initiate the path of healing.

“It took me 48 years to talk about the sexual abuse I suffered when my father, who was supposed to be my protector, gave me as if I were an animal, to his friend. And that person destroyed my body, made me drink a bottle of whiskey that I didn’t think would make it out alive and then the whole town knew that we had to move and I stopped talking about that secret because one feels ashamed and sad so great”, revealed the Dominican, who asked parents to be very attentive to the behavior of their children and give them the necessary confidence so that they can speak openly about what is happening to them.

“As a child, one keeps quiet and lives badly with that secret. And when he’s older he says ‘why should I say it, this has already happened and I’m going to destroy my family’. And since we shut it up, we feed that pandemic, because those abusers abuse others around them. That is why in our workshops we talk to parents about how to see the red flags in their children,” said the survivor of sexual abuse. “We have to understand that the greatest crime that exists is to break the innocence of a child and that the healing process only begins when we speak up, and even if it takes years, we are also protecting other children so that the same thing does not happen to them.”

In addition to the march “I do not say more”, which will begin at 11: in the morning at Yonkers City Hall Unity Fountain and will end at the Eugenio María Hostos Microsociety School, there will be nine workshops on different issues related to sexual abuse.

The idea of ​​creating these spaces is that a group of professionals, experts and specialized organizations plant a seed to educate and empower children and adolescents, by as well as parents, caregivers, Yonkers Public Schools teachers, and the community at large, to understand and prevent sexual violence.

Betty Rodríguez, Latin mother of 62 years, who at 12 years was sexually abused in Colombia by her own father, becoming pregnant, she also joined the call to raise her voice against this scourge and insisted that different sectors unite to to be able to give the fight against abuse and helping victims the importance it deserves.

“I was abused and I had a son who has 47 years, and only after four decades was I able to talk about it and it was the greatest form of healing. Being able to speak freely about what I had been carrying changed my life, to the point that I have even forgiven my father and I am in the process of forgiving my mother, who, although she is already dead, I continue to claim for having taken me out of the house. to a boarding school and having accepted that she be a mother at 00 years.

The Colombian survivor highlighted that in the Latino community of New York there is an urgent need to talk more about the subject and assign more resources to help stop this pandemic of sexual abuse and healing.

“Abuse among us Latinos is handled as a secret, so what will they say, because adults do not think about the pain of children who, since they have no voice, make adults decide for them, in what becomes a double violation”, said the activist, who sent a clear and strong message to the victims not to suffer alone .

“We must not be silent. I never want to shut up again, because we are human beings, and society is responsible for staining us. Since I spoke, I feel like the cleanest woman, because the truth is that all raped children feel dirty, ugly, we have a bad character, we live on the defensive. I always lived hurt and massacred, but since I was freed, I live better, and even the color of my eyes changed,” added the Colombian, who is also a cancer survivor and promotes mammograms among Latinas.

The mayor of the city of Yonker, Mike Spano, will also join the demonstration against sexual violence, and assured the victims that there are people and programs to reach out to them.