Lisa's Story - EGR

My name is Lisa.  I am 17 years old.  I came to Canada on July 31.  When I came to Canada I was living with my grandmother, grandfather and my uncles.  Every Sunday I went to church with my grandmother.  Living with my grandmother was like living in a jailhouse.

I started school September 2, where I continued grade 8. While in grade 8 my grandmother helped me to get a few clothes.  After 3 months she stopped buying me things I really needed for school.  It was really hard because a lot of days I went to school hungry and sad.  I managed to pass my grade 8 class and graduate.  Right after I finished school I found a summer job.

I worked at Canada’s Wonderland for 5 months.  I was working from Monday to Saturday for the morning shift, noon shift and evening shift.  I did not work on Sunday because of church.  Working at Wonderland was very hard especially transportation but I managed to save enough money to buy my school uniform and other things that I needed for school.

In October my grandmother got sick and went in the hospital for pneumonia and to remove a gallstone. She was in the hospital for 3 days. My grandfather worked during the night and my uncles were out, so for those 3 days I was always home upstairs by myself.

One night after my grandfather went to work my uncle who lived downstairs called and asked me if he can come and look for me. I said, “no”. 10 minutes later, he came upstairs while I was watching TV and knelt down in front of me and started looking at my breasts and breathing heavy. I got up and went downstairs to see if the lady that lived downstairs was up, but she was sleeping. 

On my way back upstairs my uncle was coming down and he pushed me down the stairs and I pushed him back. Then he got mad and hit me. I ran upstairs and called one of my best friend and told her what happen, she told me, “don’t worry just go to sleep”. I put on 3 pairs of pants and 3 tops with a big blanket and went to sleep. At around 12:00 am he came in my room and started pulling off my blankets. I woke up and then I started screaming and fighting, he covered my mouth and he said, “shut up!”  I started crying louder and fighting harder, I bit him, and then he pushed me and got up and said, “Don’t tell anyone.” He went downstairs I was so scared that I stayed awake and cried. The next morning I told a counselor.   

Right now I’m at EGR and could never be happier. Living here makes me feel safe and also loved. This was based on a true story. If anyone reads this and are going through something like this, do something before something happens to you.  It is better to be safe than sorry. It is your life and decision so let them know that No Means No!!

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