A high number of Brazilian women living abroad suffer from domestic violence. Interview with Marta Fernandes, founder of AMBE (Apoio A� Mulher Brasileira no Exterior) – [Support to Brazilian Women Abroad].
27 Feb, 2014
Read in English below | Leia em PortuguA?s aqui
Por Shirley Nunes
Translated by Maysa MonA�A?o
Published at Brazilian News & Culturart Brazil
About a year ago I had the opportunity to know the fantastic work of an organization that supports the Brazilian women, within the Brazilian community in London. This work began with Marta Fernandes, 51, Brazilian, who lives in London since 1985 and is responsible for the education of two children, after getting a divorce. Marta is a typical Brazilian woman, which is to say, a warrior. She has now supported the cause of Brazilian women living abroad, for three years, and for the last 30 years shea��s worked as a therapist and social career. In Brazil, she worked with homeless children and helped to build two shelters. Before the creation of AMBE (Apoio A� Mulher Brasileira no Exterior, Support to Brazilian Women Abroad), she was a volunteer for LAWRS (Latin American Womena��s Rights Service) where she realized the need to found an organization dedicated to Brazilian women who are far from their countries and who suffer from physical and psychic abuse. Read the interview below.
Interview
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When did you realize that the number of Brazilian women who suffer from abuse is high?A� In 2005 I began to work with pregnant teenagers. I worked for four years and I noticed that there was domestic violence at a hostel in Kensington, Chelsea, and I also had four clients that had been brought illegally from China and Africa to the UK. So I became interested in traffic of people. I started to research about the theme to try to understand what it was all about. Then I focused on South America and Brazil. There wasna��t any official data on Brazilian women victims of traffic of people in the UK. As a consequence I volunteer to work with LAWRS, that does a wonderful work with women that suffer from domestic violence. One thing led to the other. The only problem at LAWRS was the lack of support to Brazilian women due to cultural and linguistic differences. I then realized we needed to work directly with them.
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How did AMBE start?
It started with the arrival of the ambassador Marcus de Vicenzi. I spoke to him about the problem of women here, that there was a high number of cases of violence and traffic of people and that there was no direct support for those women. With his help, in 2011, we founded AMBE (that works with other agents with similar purposes together with the Brazilian Consulate). Today the number of women who suffer from domestic violence is still increasing, and the cases are very complicated. Unfortunately, due to the high demand, it is hard to go through them all, mostly because it is a crime committed inside four walls.
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Segundo Marta, os casos mais ocorridos, sem sombra de dA?vida A� a violA?ncia domA�stica e suas ramificaA�A�es. Veja sua explicaA�A?o: a�? It is necessary to emphasize that the domestic violence includes physical, emotional, psychological, as well as financial and sexual abuse. It is important to say that many times children get involved with this conflictive relationship between the abuser and the victim, turning everything into a delicate and complex issue. When the woman takes courage to change this situation, or when she wants to go back to Brazil, she has problems with the English laws. It is necessary, however, for her to understand how immigration legislation is established here, so that she can have access to Law and Police services, especially if it involves childrea�� .A�
Invitation
Take a look the March in 2013.
http://culturartbrazil.com/a-maior-passeata-de-mulheres-acontece-em-londres/
Do these cases happen more among married couples or single people? Brazilian partners or other nationalities? a�?It depends and it is difficult to measure. There are many married couples, for instance, that live together and have two nationalities. One of the ways to control and subjugate women is blackmailing or cheating her regarding the visa. We had a case of a Brazilian woman and an English man, married for 12 years, with two children, and she still didna��t have the visa. He refused to provide the passport to the children. It is a way to control. It is a weapon because if they give the visa to their partners, she will have more rights and will be able to go to Court. Without a visa, she has no house, no benefits, no lawyer, no right to get a shelter, or study, she has nothing. The partner doesna��t want her to work, isolating her from friends and relatives, cutting every access to communication and technology.
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Does the abuser have the same pattern of behaviour? Yes, it seems they follow the same playbook. It is unbelievable. They isolate her, hurt her self-esteem, threaten her saying she would never more be able to see her sons again, or that they will deport her, or that she is stupid because she cannot speak English and so nobody would believe her, all of this stuff. This is common in domestic violence.
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How does the organization attend everyone that looks for support? Well, it is a sacrifice, but after one year of work we got the support of the Consulate. We still dona��t have a physical room and we cana��t hire professionals. Fortunately we have very good volunteers.
Published at Brazilian News too. Click here to see the original pdf. ( just in Portuguese)
The British Law & A Brazilian Case
‘The British Law needs a reform because some laws contradicts a previous one, as we can see if we analyse immigration legislation, family rights and human rights’, according Marta. At this moment in Court there is a case of two Brazilians, illegally in the country, who are fighting for the guard of their son, and according to the immigration laws, they would have to be deported, but another law related to family rights guarantees they can stay until the judge decides with whom the child will live. The mother wants to get back to Brazil and the father wants to continue living here. The case went to Court, because the Brazilian woman has suffered from abuse for more than three years.
Check more about the organization at: www.ambe.org.uk
Donations can be made to the account below:
Banco:A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A�A� The Cooperative Bank
Account name:A�A�A�A�A� AMBE BR
Account n A?: 50 65617661
Sort Code:A�A�A�A�A�A� A�A�A�A�A� 08 92 99
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