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Date: 21 July, 2005

Violence against women by husbands and parents-in-law is a serious issue throughout Central Asia. Christian Aid partner Ghamkhori are rising to the challenge of tackling the problem by providing training and awareness-raising workshops on gender issues for both men and women. Photo: Christian Aid / Christian Smyth
“If my husband doesn’t earn any money I am not entitled to complain, but if I do not do the housework, I can be beaten.'

Thirty year old Hidoyat sits on the edge of her chair, unable to make eye contact and barely moving apart from the incessant wringing of her hands. Subjected to long-term domestic violence, Hidoyat has sought solace in the Women’s Centre run by Christian Aid partner Ghamkhori in southern Tajikistan.

'My life with my husband is not good – he abuses me and beats me' she explains. 'Now that I am pregnant [with her fourth child], he has stopped hitting me'

Hidoyat was beaten in the stomach while pregnant with her first child. Her son, who is now six, was consequently born with massive head trauma and lives a life blighted by headaches and pain. He also has severe learning difficulties and cannot sleep through the night.

“My husband knows it is his fault our son’s head was injured so now he stops beating me when I am pregnant.”

Hidoyat’s striking green-blue eyes and fair hair distinguish her as coming from the Gharm region in Tajikistan but she now lives in a small village 40km from the city of Kurgan-Teppa.

She moved here after her parents arranged her marriage during the five-year civil war that devastated Tajikistan in the mid-90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many women were considered burdens to the family and forced to marry at a young age.

“If my husband doesn’t earn any money I am not entitled to complain, but if I do not do the housework, I can be beaten,' explains Hidoyat. Men are men, but a woman is a bird without wings. What can she do? When I come here to the Women’s Centre and talk to the trainers and doctors, I see light…I see light.'

Ghamkhori’s Women’s Centre is a sanctuary just off a dusty main street and has two psychologists, two lawyers, four teachers, a midwife and a gynaecologist on hand to provide support to the women who come for free treatment ranging from counselling to contraceptive advice.

The Centre’s lawyers provide legal advice for women struggling to gain custody of their children and help represent them in court. Ghamkhori also runs training sessions for both men and women on issues around gender and domestic violence.

Hidoyat, who walks for two hours to get to the Centre, has received treatment for her son and counselling. 'Whatever happens and whatever problems I have, I come to this Centre...I never hear the word "no" here.'

When asked what would improve the quality of her life, Hidoyat puts it simply: 'If my husband respected my children, and if he respected me. I am not loved, and my children are not loved. I have to sit quietly. And obey. And suffer.'