Martes, Disyembre 14, 2021

A Survivor's Ramblings: Tired But Can't Give Up

December 14, 2021

Dear friends, 

I hope you are all well in every aspect. I know it's been years since the last time I posted here. I thought I would never be able to post here again as I've been experiencing "writer's block" as what others call it and couldn't express my thoughts thoroughly. Is it because writing for earning has exhausted the heck out of me and made my creative side empty? I don't know. All I can understand is just like before I still have many thoughts swirling in my mind, things that I am dreaming to write about, emotions that I want to express - and one of those is my life to you.

In the beginning of this blog, I expressed wanting to put into writing what I experienced and maybe I will be able to help one or two survivors like me in living life. Nowadays, I'm already more than 30 years old, life has never been busier than ever. Whenever I want to speak everything in my mind, I found myself not being able to express it. And what I just do is after work, to just read and then sleep. It's a repetitive process and sometimes I found myself even too tired to do household chores. Though, I am living alone there are still many responsibilities at my hand. My siblings depend on me, my only family. I couldn't even tell anyone that I am getting tired, that I need help, someone to push me up, to help me continue and not to point an accusing finger but an understanding heart.

It's been years and I'm tired to act strong, to be strong but I can't give up. I can't tell specifically how do I feel now. Only that, life is so busy, my past self needs healing, my present self is having a hard time being busy and wanting to help my past self and at the same time wanting to prepare for the future of my siblings, the only family I have.

Others would say that it is because of my pent up emotions inside, probably they are right. I know I should not give up. I keep on clinging to the only hope I have. Though I know I am lacking, I am trying to take courage and pray. I can only pray and hope He will send someone or will do something to help me. I am not worthy to be helped because I have many lapses nowadays, my mind is in jumbled, it feels like I am caught in a limbo. The storm is just behind my mind and it feels like it's rearing its head, waiting to lash out and cause big devastating destruction to me. But I can't give up, I shouldn't give up. 

I hope God is not yet tired of me because He is the only strength I have.


Hoping for better days,

Lady Eliza Kim


Miyerkules, Nobyembre 1, 2017

Why Love Myself Campaign by BTS and Unicef Touches My Heart

Dear everyone,

It's been quite a while since the last time I posted here. I was not able to update you with what was happening to me in the past year of my life because I was too busy with balancing my time for work and also of the current struggle I am still facing. I decided to post something new, a few days before my birthday, because of what I just received from the news. The group that has been my medicine  has started a new campaign, and this is just what I dreamed and wished for a long time. I never thought it would come true.

BTS, Beyond the Scene, or popularly known as Bangtan Sonyeondan has launched a campaign #BTSLoveMyself #ENDViolence together with the UNICEF.  Love Myself Campaign aims to help people especially the children who experience different forms of violence - domestic violence, sexual violence, school violence, bullying online and offline and such cases. Violence of any kind to children bring sufferings, life-long aftermath that extends to adulthood. Unfortunately, for some victims, others died because of this.  I, for myself, can attest to that.

Big Hit and BTS together with Korean Committee for UNICEF affiliated with United Nations spent six months in preparation for this. Specifically, our loves Big HIT and BTS looked for an organization which promotes also the same value as they are promoting since 2013. UNICEF is the best partner.

BTS wants to share the love they've been receiving since the beginning, which according to Kim Namjoon they do not deserve. (I beg to disagree.) It has been their dream to give back to the society in the biggest and humblest way possible not just through music but in things more mature and beyond that. Though the seven boys cannot change the world completely, by this way they can start a change. The Love Myself campaign is an extension of their concerns. As it stated in the official website, "It is high time to act and make a difference." 

Love Myself fund will be raised for the next two years in four ways: First, Bangtan Sonyeondan and their home company, Big Hit, started it by donating 500 million KRW. Second, 3% of the income from physical sales of Love Yourself Album will be donated too. Third, 100% income from the sales of official goods for the Love Myself campaign will also go directly to fund this project. And fourth, donations at the donation desks installed by UNICEF.

To say that my heart is overwhelmed by this news is an understatement.

As you all know, when I was a child I was a victim of sexual abuse. Repeatedly abused by the man who supposedly took care of me, (My mom's lover. I couldn't call him a stepfather, he was never a father to me.). Now that I am already turning 30 years old in a few days, I am still struggling and suffering because of this. In the past months I found myself being drowned by my depression, I cried a lot. Memories of the past keep coming back like ghosts that haunt me every now and then. Yes, I thought I was already okay because I managed to stay quiet and doing okay at work and in another things. BUT NO, I AM STILL NOT OKAY UNTIL NOW. I am avoiding people, I'm scared to talk with anyone right now. I do not open my personal accounts and I tend to be quiet most of the time. When I'm alone, I cry a lot. There is something that keeps me sad all the time.

The only thing that keeps my company is BTS and ARMY. Through their songs I feel I am not alone, I feel genuine love. As I always say to my mutuals, my fellow ARMYs, I believe that God has given BTS as a gift to me during this point of my life. Like my introduction here, I consider BTS as my Medicine that keeps me sane.   

The violence I suffered during childhood still affects me until now that I am old. I have no one to talk to. I cannot say it to my family and friends because they will be left heartbroken for sure. I was too scared when I was a child to tell it to others so I kept mum all throughout those years for the sake of my family's safety and reputation. Now, I cannot file a case anymore, because the statue of limitations is over and the criminal is already old perhaps by now. To give more hatred to him is not an answer. I cannot show my real self to people while talking about this because of so many things I have to consider and so the consequence is I suffer alone. And perhaps I will suffer alone until my last day here on earth.

That is why to see this campaign for children done by BTS, Love Myself, is something I will cherish and support all my life. I couldn't change what has happened to me. But I can still save another life, I can save a young co-survivor to live a life with lesser pains than we had.

I had to dry up my tears when I received this news to be able to write this post. I have to give my penny for thought for this act of kindness that our loves have shown.

To end this note, I would like to quote Kim Namjoon's speech in Billboard Music Awards 2017, "Remember ARMY, 'Love myself, Love yourself.'"




Watch the Campaign Video.
Click here to support: LOVE MYSELF CAMPAIGN. #BTSLoveMyself #ENDViolence

Martes, Abril 19, 2016

Dear beloved Philippines, RAPE IS A VERY SERIOUS MATTER. From a Filipina, adult survivor

Dear beloved Philippines,

With a heavy heart I write to you.

As a patriotic citizen of this country I tried my best to keep mum and just be an observer to what is happening in the political side of my land. Election is fast approaching. Soon, there will be new leaders that hopefully will help and lead us Filipinos into having better lives. My eyes, ears, mind and heart are all open to weigh things justly for me to be able to choose who will be the rightful ones to have the delicate duty to take care of the Philippines. I had kept my mouth shout for me not to be able to influence anyone, even my closest friends and loved ones. I wanted them to use their whole being (mind and heart especially) in choosing the next leaders of our beloved nation.  There are many times that I want to react so loudly because of the so many disappointments and confusion this coming election is bringing. - but I really did my best to be quiet.

Not until now.

Admittedly, I am not a supporter of Duterte. Although I commend him for the good things he has done for his city since he became a mayor of Davao, I can never force myself to vote for him. Why? Many fellowmen are telling that he has the “change” the whole country is desperately waiting for and we need it now. I have watched videos, read lots of posts in support and in defense for him. I know exactly how big the crowd he has and is gaining because of his promised “new” platform for the Filipinos. I tried to convince myself that maybe I should listen to him, believe him, but I just can't. I cannot force myself to finally support him. My faculties tell me not to do so, especially now. There are various reasons – but primarily because of the way he deals with women. Well, I must say that he is brave to tell the world his “dark sides.” (I do not know if he really confessed everything. I cannot see his heart.)  But this, my country, this is the thing that makes me feel so scared if I, too, will vote for him. Especially now after I heard him telling in his political rally a “rape joke” as they called it -

"Nirape nila lahat ng mga babae so 'yung unang asolte, kasi nagretreat sila, naiwan yung ginawa nilang cover, ang isa doon yung layminister na Australyana. Tsk, problema na ito. Pag labas, edi binalot. Tiningnan ko yung mukha, 'tangina parang artista sa America na maganda. Putangina, sayang ito. Ang nagpasok sa isip ko, nirape nila, pinagpilahan nila doon. Nagalit ako kasi nirape, oo isa rin 'yun . Pero napakaganda, dapat ang mayor muna ang mauna. Sayang." - Duterte

(All the women were raped so during the first assault, because they retreated, the bodies they used as a cover, one of them was the corpse of the Australian woman layminister. Tsk, this is a problem. When the bodies were brought out, they were wrapped. I looked at her face, son of a bitch, she looks like a beautiful American actress. Son of a bitch, what a waste. What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because she was raped, that's one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste.)

- Source: Rappler

When he said it in his rally last April 12 that he should have been the “first one” to do that to the Australian woman who was raped (and also murdered), I was horrified beyond words. But as a human being, though I was really offended about his remarks, I acted fair. I watched that video where he said those and his explanation after the incident. I saw the rally's video; I heard how he delivered his words and how the audience laughed when he said those sickening words. I also heard how he explained that he was just narrating his reaction to that crime, and that his natural way of speaking, that he was not making a joke about it and how serious he was.

I am so disgust about this that I could not stay silent anymore. I have to speak on behalf of the rape abuse victims and survivors like me. Yes, you read it right. I was also a victim. I am just blessed because I was able to survive and I'm still living until now. In this land where most of the victims, especially the poor, do not receive justice – there are times, many times that we just choose to remain silent and do not talk about the crime that was committed to us and how it destroyed our lives – because exposing it will cost us time, money, and bring shame and destruction to us and to our loved ones.

Now, I couldn't believe that someone who aspires to be the leader, protector and father of this country, will say those words in public that he should have been the first one to rape that poor woman. This should not be a joke. I want someone to tell me that he did not say it. Unfortunately, it is recorded in videos. It's true that he said that, and what's worse about it was his audience took his words as light as he was just making fun about it. OH NO! My beautiful land, what has happened to you?

Why on earth he said those words and the people acted like that was okay? Granting without accepting that he just narrated in his rally what he said angrily in a 1989 crime and not making a joke, why did he allow his supporters to just laugh about it? As an intelligent lawyer, he should have known if his audience understood or not the message he wanted to convey. Because if his argument is true, he should have clarified his remarks so people will correctly understand him right then and there. But did he? No.

Steve Harvey is a lot better. I envy him, who after realizing his gaffe in Miss U, he corrected himself right away before millions of people watching. Even if he knew that he would receive a lot of negative comments after, he stood corrected still because he knew that was the right thing to do. While on the other hand, this presidentiable did not even correct or clarify himself in front of his supporters. I don't know why he didn't do that if his argument is really true.

And his supporters, is that stuff laughable? Ask yourselves, your conscience. I don't get at all why you were all laughing and cheering him when he told you that he should have been the first one to rape. What had happened to you all, dear people? You are even bashing those who are not supporting him to the point that some of you are wishing those who are not in favor of him to die or to experience rape.  I say this with all sarcasm: Woah, that's a great trait, mga kababayan!

Whatever the intention of Mr. Duterte's remarks, whether it is a joke or not, we must remember that rape is a very serious matter. I repeat, RAPE IS A VERY SERIOUS MATTER. IT'S SOMETHING WHICH SHOULD NOT BE LAUGHED AT OR MISINTERPRETED AT.

This is one of the many reasons why we, the rape survivors, hide and remain silent after surviving the crime. People do not understand how we really feel. Sometimes our co-survivors who are courageous enough to expose himself or herself become a laughing stock and are accused of inventing things, that we just want to receive money. The criminals are protected and unfortunately we, the victims, become more victims by the society, by the law.

If I'm in the shoes of Ms. Hamill who after being raped was murdered, and would hear someone would say that he should have been the first one to rape me, I do not know how exactly I would feel. Offended and belittled are too unfit to describe my emotion. Even if those were only words, you wouldn't want to imagine how great the fear it brings in our hearts. I couldn't bear to be abused again, to be raped again.

Does the mayor even know what he is talking about?  He doesn’t know the ordeal we are facing everyday just to be able to get by knowing our very beings are already destroyed. Some of our companions committed suicide already because they couldn't take the pain. Every day is a battle for us. If we are not warring against our perpetrators in the court, we are fighting against ourselves. We feel fear, guilt and shame at the same time – these are slowly consuming us. They devour us all the more because of how the people look upon us. So many victims, like me, opted to remain silent, wear a mask and pretend all our lives that we are normal human beings just like the rest of you.

The mayor should have been the first,” these sickening words haunted us in our dreams. His remarks do not help us, cannot and will not help us.

The “beast” as I called him, started to rape me when I just turned seven years old, I was only in 2nd grade in primary school. It lasted until I was already in 4th or 5th grade. Why did it take so long? I saw how evil he was. He was hurting my mom and had the capacity to hurt my siblings also or worse. So, I bore the suffering all by myself at a very young age. I was young and too scared for myself and my family back then. And now that I'm almost 30 years old, I am still afraid.  I'm afraid of that beast. I'm afraid of the society we live in. I'm afraid of people like Duterte. I AM SO SCARED.

I couldn't imagine my precious land of birth being led by a womanizer, by someone who just kissed woman supporters on lips out of the blue, by someone who was a Peeping Tom to his maid and even touched her body while asleep, by someone who told the public about a rape remarks (or a joke). If this kind of person will be the president, what would happen to us, especially the rape victims? How can we feel safe and protected if the wanna-be-president is someone who can just make a rape statement/joke out of the blue and his audience would just laugh about it? What is he trying to imply? What kind of country is he about to make?

I remember a saying, “For the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”  The way a man speaks, his choice of words is a reflection of his character.

As of writing time, I feel more scared. I feel unsafe. All the bad memories, the pain, the shame, the negative thoughts I had in the past years are crippling me right now. Since last Sunday, I have seen tears in my eyes. I feel that my heart is being crushed into pieces. I feel pain not just for me but for all the victims of rape and any kind of abuse here in the Philippines – whether they are still alive or dead now.

I’ll accept if you call me O.A. or over acting, that’s fine with me. But to hear from someone who wants to lead the country, that he should have been the first to rape a victim (even if he said those words out anger only), even if I am not the person he is talking about, I feel like I am raped again and a part of me has died – THIS IS NOT OKAY.

Honestly, a single word or act whether it is delivered as a joke or not, for us, victims, would cost a lot to us – and sometimes our own lives. We live in pain, we live in fear, we live in shame and to add more – that is too much. And that’s what Mr. Duterte did to us.

I hope this letter would reach him, for him to understand that RAPE IS RAPE. It's something you should not make a joke about it, it's something that shouldn't be misinterpreted, it's something that people should not laugh about. If you are going to say it before public be sure that your message is clearly understand. After all, you are promising that true change will come from you. Start that “true change” in your character. Start the true change in you. Do not make an excuse that is how people from the gutter really speak. Do not tell us that’s how lowly you think of us living in the gutter? That we always speak in an offensive manner. (Our family is also from the gutter but we are thought not to act lowly, that we can earn respect if we show courtesy and respect too.)

Philippines, the Pearl of the Orient, my beloved country to whom many heroes sacrificed themselves for you, are all their efforts will be wasted? I do not know now what will happen to you. I cry endlessly because I’m too scared of the kind of leaders we are having for you.

To the people who will bash me after reading my letter, it’s okay. I totally understand. One cannot please everybody. Your future negative comments will not affect me that much. I have lived all my life in pain after that beast raped me countless times. So the pain from your bashings will not destroy me anymore, because there’s nothing left in me to be destroyed.

To his supporters, it is your right to support whom you like to support. Just be sure that you will not regret your choice. I really hope that you choose him because you truly want this country to be a better place to live in. As for me, it is also my right not to support him. Let’s respect each other’s decision. We are created as humans; let us show that we are really humans.

To the people who will understand and will give love, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your contribution to help me survive more in this terrible time. But please do not just give support to me. I wish that we please join hand in hand together. Help us in our prayers to stop rape culture. Help us to stop making fun of women, children, LGBTs, everyone – especially those who are living in the marginalized groups. LET US HELP EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE VICTIMS OF ALL KIND OF CRIMES. Give them courage, give them love. Do not mock anyone, because everyone has his own battle.

To the curious ones, after revealing that I am a rape victim and will not support someone like Duterte, I am sure you will ask me whom am I going to vote for the presidency? Am I endorsing a certain presidentiable? The answer is a big NO. I AM NOT ENDORSING ANYONE. As of today April 19, 2016 in my heart I still cannot choose who I am going to write in the ballot. All of them are the same. They are now bringing chaos in our land instead of unity. All of them show that they are perfect for the job as President of the Philippines but all of them destroy one another's character. If today the elections will be held, I would leave the choices for president  blank. I would not vote for anyone.

There is only one person in this world who can give me the best advice whom to vote this coming May 9. Who? The person who helped me to strive and survive despite all the bad things that happened in my life – the preacher to whom I entrusted my soul.
  
Mahabag nawa ang Dios ng mga langit sa minamahal kong bayan, ang Perlas ng Silanganan.


With ink and tears I wrote this letter,

Lady Eliza Lee,
Filipina, adult survivor


(PS: Credits to the owner of the photo above.)

Miyerkules, Enero 20, 2016

A not so Dear Open letter to the INC of Manalo's council

An Open Letter to the council and leadership of Iglesia ni cristo of Manalo in the Philippines

INC of Manalo's council,

DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO NOW WITH YOUR MONEY AND POWER. 

You maybe for NOW can hinder the brave people who want to expose how evil you really are, like Menorca, Samson, Angel, Lotty, and the others who you expelled because they fought against your bad deeds. 

You maybe for NOW can persecute all the other people outside your group, who know how rotten your doctrines are, how unbiblical your teachings are, like Eli Soriano. 

For NOW because you are blinded by your own foolishness because of who you are, what kind of leader you are, your members (if not all) are also like you - fearless to do evil acts, boastful as if they own the country, thinking they will go to heaven even if they do gruesome things to their enemies.

You maybe for NOW can buy people, scare government officials, manipulate the laws of men, cover the eyes of justices.

BUT REMEMBER THESE WORDS ----

You may not believe for NOW what I will say. but this thing will happen, this thing will happen because it is promised by a Powerful Being who cannot lie. 

We will receive true justice on the Judgment Day in the last day. 

For sure, if you do not change, you will receive your punishment.

On that day, we will all see this thing being unfolded before our very eyes. 

ON THAT DAY, your money, your power cannot do anything from you - you cannot escape from the hands of the Almighty Supreme Judge.

As of the moment may I say, MAY GOD REBUKE THEE! SAWAYIN NAWA!


A victim also,
Eliza



(Watch how the "policemen" not in their uniform and did not have any warrant, arrested former minister Menorca here: VIDEO: Ex-INC minister Lowell Menorca, inaresto sa Maynila)

Biyernes, Agosto 28, 2015

INC, The Group Behind the Monster

August 29,2015
2:30AM

Dear everyone,

It's been a while since my last post. I am sorry for being too busy with everything. I supposed being the bread winner and parent/sister in one is no big joke. I have three jobs at a time and have many responsibilities at home and in the group I belong with.

I decided to make a short post regarding the "monster" that destroyed me. Actually, I have been trying all these years to erase all the bitter memories brought by him. I do not want to remember any single information about him. But the truth is all the memories, all the things about him are kept inside my mind, ready to destroy me anytime. But I refused to be put down. I have survived more than two decades; I am a survivor.

At this point in time my focus of my posting tonight is not about my diary, but I want you to somehow know a little bit of that person. I believe on what I always hear from older people that a man's character is measured  through his background - his childhood history, his peers, his environment, the way he is bring up and such.

In this case, I believe that behind the monster that devoured my childhood is a group that destroys many people since time immemorial, (This thing is based on the facts written in SCRA, cases files in different courts, news and personal encounters by my friends and former colleagues.), it  had something to do why he became a beast despite not having a difficult childhood. I met his mother a few times and even his siblings, they were good people. I still wonder up to this moment why such good people like them have had relatives like him. A few years past after the abuse, I realized a big factor why he was turned into an evil man: the group he belonged with.

During the time that he was still with us, he was still mom's lover, he always would bring me to his work since it's already vacation. I was always with him everywhere he went, wherever his boss asked him to go. It was like I was his chaperon or young assistant and he was the driver. (Of course, I hope you have read it between the lines. Yes, since I was always with him even at work - there were instances that many abuses happened even while he was on the job.)

One time, his boss and family asked him to drive them at a nearby church in Quezon City to practice their belief. I stayed in the car because I was too shy to be with the boss' family. (Anyway, I already attended the gathering then.) The monster also stayed in the car. I was curious that time because ever since he started living with mom, I never saw him celebrated any religious traditions (we were Catholics back then) nor saw him entering a church locale. Though I  was scared to ask him, I still did. I could remember clearly our conversation,

- "Bakit hindi ka po nagsisimba? Bakit hindi ka po pumasok ng simbahan? (Why are you not attending church services? Why didn't you enter the church?)

- "Iglesia ni Cristo ako." (I am an Iglesia ni Cristo member.)

*For your information Iglesia ni Cristo is a group that started here in the Philippines. Their belief is Christ is merely a man and Manalo, their leader, is an angel.*

So, that was the answer to my lingering question. I just nodded after our little talk. I do not want to remember what happened next. Yes, something evil had happened.

Years after that short conversation, I have met friends and colleagues who were victimized, abused by INC members also, particularly those who were higher ranking officials. There was also a time when I heard over the radio that they had sent a pack of NBI agents with high-powered guns in a compound in Pampanga for just a simple case of libel. (Not mentioning still the records in Supreme Court, filed cases in different places, unreported bad acts, and the recent - the controversy between Manalo family and Council with Eduardo and Babyln.)

It was then I realized and had came to a conclusion - that there are members (not all) honed by this group did not become good citizens. I am a living witness to that. That monster, my mom's lover, is one of them.

I am a victim of someone who believes that they are the only ones who will be saved, outside their church they will all go to hell.  That monster believed he will not be condemned, he was not afraid to do evil. Like his ministers and leaders' belief, he believed they will be saved for as long as he stayed in their group and be loyal or should I say fanatic to it. How pitiful.

Why am I bringing this up now?

The current scandal revolving around INC now is no longer new. Like I said a while back, there are many issues and bad records about them. The reason why they have bad members is because of their leadership, of their doctrines. The question is, is their claim true that they are the only ones who will be saved? They are even using the Bible but what is this they're doing is it Biblical? So many evidences, so many confessions from the victims. These things are being revealed one by one and cannot be covered anymore. So miserable.

To my fellowmen, do not be victimized. Do not let your families and children be victims also. Let us all be wise.

REMEMBER: Do not enter a group that will make you a monster afterwards.

Until my next post, my next entry to my diary.

God bless the Philippines and the whole world.

Sincerely,
Eliza











Sabado, Abril 11, 2015

Heartbreaking News: An Afghan nightmare: Forced to marry your rapist (CNN)

My thoughts

April 12, 2015
2:00 AM, PST

Below my post is the news in CNN from Afghan, a victim was forced to marry her rapist. I have seen this news and was very saddened by the fact that this kind of injustice really do exist. So sad for the girl.. she is left with no choice.

I hope society will be a better place to live in.

I'll be closing my eyes in this wee hours with a weeping heart for the people who experience the same ordeal.

Eliza, :'(


==============================================================
An Afghan nightmare: Forced to marry your rapist

By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

It is an unimaginably hideous outcome.

To be raped by your cousin's husband; be jailed for adultery as your attacker was married; to suffer the ignominy of global uproar about your jailing and assault, but be pardoned by presidential decree; and then to endure the shame and rejection from a conservative society that somehow held you to blame.

The solution in this society? Marry your attacker.

READ: Women's rights in Afghanistan: Are we witnessing a revolution?

That's what happened to Gulnaz, who was barely 16 when she was raped. She's now carrying the third child of her attacker, Asadullah, who was convicted and jailed -- though this was then reduced.

Gulnaz's plight -- like so much in beleaguered Afghanistan -- disappeared from the world's gaze once she was pardoned and released courtesy of a presidential pardon. Instead of a new start, what followed for Gulnaz was a quiet, Afghan solution to the "problem" -- a telling sign of where women's rights stand in Afghanistan despite the billions that have poured into this country from the U.S. government and its NATO allies during more than a decade of war.

'Rescued' from shame

We found Gulnaz in her family home. Smile, the name of the daughter born of the rape, is now a shining little girl, bouncing around the house that her mother shares with Asadullah's first wife -- who is also Gulnaz's cousin.

Asadullah agreed to let us speak with him and Gulnaz because, it seemed, he wanted to show us that things were now settled, that under Afghanistan's version of social morality he had done the right thing. He had rescued Gulnaz from shame.

"If I hadn't married her, (but) according to our traditions, she couldn't have lived back in society," he tells us. "Her brothers didn't want to accept her back. Now, she doesn't have any of those problems."

2011: Thousands sign petition for Gulaz release

Gulnaz remains subdued throughout our meeting and does not once look her husband in the eye. "I didn't want to ruin the life of my daughter or leave myself helpless so I agreed to marry him," she says. "We are traditional people. When we get a bad name, we prefer death to living with that name in society."

As Smile attempts to pour tea, the other seven children in this household run around the courtyard. The first wife remains unseen in the house. A portrait of Gulnaz's liberator in 2011, the then-president Hamid Karzai, hangs on the wall. But the sense of order here is undermined by the fact that this is a house built around a crime.

Pressure to marry

How Gulnaz ended up here requires some explanation. There was pressure upon her to marry her attacker after her release. But at the same time, other activists were trying to assist her with an asylum bid abroad.

"Unfortunately, Gulnaz was heavily pressured to marry her attacker by various people within the government which, in and of itself, was immensely disappointing," her former attorney, an American citizen named Kimberley Motley, tells us.

"Gulnaz was constantly told that neither she nor her daughter would be protected if she did not succumb to their pressure to marry... Gulnaz essentially became a prisoner of her environment.

"As an uneducated, young, single mother with no family support, it would have been an uphill battle for Gulnaz and her daughter."

Local pressure won out. She was introduced to her attacker in the shelter where CNN first interviewed her upon release from prison. They talked and it was agreed she would marry him.

Most disturbingly, the woman who -- despite knowing the stigma it would create around her -- defiantly insisted she had been raped when we spoke nearly four years ago, now says she was told by her relatives to make up the allegations.

"Now she is beside me and knows that it was not as big as they had shown it," says Asadullah.

"No I am not thinking about it anymore," Gulnaz adds. "I don't have a problem with him now and I don't want to think about the past problems. My life is OK... I am happy with my life... It is going on."

She is then permitted to talk with us alone. Asadullah moves away but stands close to the door of the room. Though she now maintains she was not raped, she explains her decision. She contradicts her husband, saying her brothers would have taken her back, had she not married him.

"My brothers opposed the marriage and told me to take my daughter and go to Pakistan to live with them instead," she says. "But now we're married, they disowned me and won't see me again."

Her decision was for her daughter.

"No, I couldn't fulfill my wishes in life. I married this man; I cut relations with my family only to buy my daughter's future."

It is truly chilling to see how things have gone for Gulnaz after the level of international attention her story received -- pregnant with the third child of the man who was once her rapist, accepting a life as his second wife, trapped in his home.

(link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/asia/afghanistan-gulnaz-rape-marriage/)