To the Editor:
Since January I’ve been trying to help and counsel a young girl from Rwanda, a victim of long-standing marital sexual abuse, physical assault, harassment and intimidation.
Her family came here as refugees in 2008. Currently she’s attempting to gain custody of her two small sons who are ages 4 and 6. She is terrified because her abuser lives close to her in Illinois.
At a recent hearing she was devastated when her parents advised her to go back to live with the man who threw her out of the house in January 2018. When we pray together she’ll say, “Why would I go back to the one who would like me dead?”
There will be another hearing soon. This is a sad story, stranger than fiction; I ask the good folks who read The Catholic Messenger to pray for hope. I think she might be safer in Iowa, as she has a job there. There is real optimism that she could gain full custody after the upcoming hearing.
Please contact me (563) 355-3756 with any ideas that you might consider.
Thank you.
Tom Luton
Bettendorf
