Regrettably, the violence never stops; it only escalates and becomes worse. While insulting and beating my mom, I always overhear my dad accusing and blaming her for his violent acts, saying that she provokes his anger, that she causes him to be frustrated and that she makes him hit her. Then once the storm passes, I see the physical reminders of my mom’s suffering and misery. He tries to invent unconvincing justifications for being outrageously brutal and cruel to her. He is such a ruthless, dehumanizing person. The most traumatizing part of these violent scenes is that we, the kids, have been the audience for my mom’s abuse. That definitely duplicates the anguish we’ve all been tortured by. Spending all our days and nights at home together makes my siblings and me more vulnerable for being his next victims. It’s such an uncertain and critical period for us all. I have always heard that home is the safest place on earth, and a family is made up of the most supportive and caring individuals. But our home has never been safe, especially when my dad is around. It has always been school that I think of as the safest place in the world. Currently, I can’t escape my home situation, not being able to run away and hide at school. It makes me give up hope. I need to go back to school to feel safe again. Apparently, COVID-19 doesn’t only threaten our health and lives; it espouses and nurtures domestic violence and child abuse. Everyone around us has been preoccupied with the pandemic which is expected and that has been the case everywhere around the globe. Yet, there are serious matters that are developing beneath the social isolation umbrella, damaging our mental health, causing much suffering and will have lasting negative implications on several families and children. I’maware of the availability of the COVID-19 hotline, which we can call in case we need any specific information relevant to the pandemic. Calling the hotline to report our miserable circumstances at home would be very challenging and risky because since our confinement, my dad is always around, watching us and listening in on our conversations. And I don’t even know if the hotline deals with this type of situation. I wish there was a code indicating domestic violence and child abuse that
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