According to data from the United Nations, one of every two Guyanese women between the ages of 16 and 64 has experienced intimate partner violence at least once in their lives. The global average is one in three women, which is about 30% but one in two accounts for 55% of Guyanese women, according to the United Nations.
The abused woman is not only the one who bears the marks of her violation. She is not only the one whose sad eyes are bordered by black and blue, unafraid to let the world see what the hands of a coward has done. She will dress her wounds and every time she oils her body, she will take time around the scars that are memories, reminders of the current angst and sometimes, the forecast of that which would lead to her body being frozen and buried.