Physical safety is one thing, but when you deal with the emotional and mental issues, and the safety, it's just like.... Even though there was a sense of ceremony, family, and helping people in the community coming for help, and those sorts of things, when I was kicked out I didn't have that to fall on; those supports were gone. I just didn't feel safe to go back.
I don't know what the answer is. You just have to continue somehow with that outreach. A woman, or anybody, who is victimized has to start building that sense of safety. I'm happy now I can sleep at night. But that doesn't mean it's safe even in the community when I run into this person. Sometimes there are gestures or obscene words and stuff like that, and there's a lot of tension if my son runs into him and things like that, so it's still ongoing.