Nidhi’s story.
I had been living in Australia for 10 years before I met my husband. My husband comes from our home country. Our parents thought it would be a good match and we were married there before he moved to Australia with me. I was so excited to be married and was looking forward to having a family – he seemed like a kind man and well educated. I thought we would be happy together.
Almost straightaway my life changed – he found it hard to get work in his field and that made him angry. He controlled all our money and just gave me enough to buy groceries with. I had to save all the receipts so he could make sure that I hadn’t “wasted” the money on anything for myself. Before I met him, I had Australian friends, but he didn’t want me to see them anymore and would ring me constantly if I was out of the house – which I only left to go to work.
He wanted children immediately and was very demanding in that way, even when I said I didn’t want to. Eventually he started locking me in the house when he went out. And he’d take my phone with him. I tried to be a good wife, but nothing I did was “right”.
Leaving him will be hard – I have no money of my own and he’s told everyone in our community that I am a bad woman. Hearing about the Sweet Dreams Foundation gives me hope that I might be able to change my situation soon.