After walking away, woman shares journey enduring 15 years of abuse

After surviving 15 years of abuse at the hands of her partner, Sonia Sewnarine finally walked away, choosing safety, healing and a chance to rebuild not only her life, but her children’s. Even then, she admitted, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to start over.

“Sometimes strength is simply walking away,” Sewnarine told the audience gathered at the Red Shoe event on Tuesday at the Kingston Seawall esplanade. Her voice carried a story of survival, courage, and hope for the many women who still suffer in silence.

The young mother described herself as a woman who found the strength to rise after years spent in darkness. Outwardly, her marriage looked normal. But behind closed doors, she said, “I smiled for photos, cooked dinner, carried the weight of being a good wife, but behind closed doors, my home was a battlefield.”

She remembered living every day on eggshells, never knowing what would trigger the next outburst, whether it would be silence, insults, or violence.

“I told myself so many things: ‘I can fix this… he didn’t mean it… if I try harder, things will get better.’ The most painful thought was that my children needed a complete home, but I didn’t realise then that this wasn’t it,” she shared.

There were days she sat numb on the edge of her bed, praying for peace and wondering if she would lose herself entirely. What kept her going were her children, her motivation to survive, and eventually, to leave.

Her turning point came after a particularly frightening incident. She looked into her children’s eyes and finally recognised the fear she had been ignoring. “If I couldn’t save myself, I would save myself for them,” she said.

Leaving wasn’t a single dramatic moment, but a series of small, brave steps—each one a quiet promise to herself that she deserved peace. With her children’s hands in hers, she walked out in fear, but also in freedom, taking the first real breath she had felt in years.

Life after leaving was not simple. Sewnarine spoke of the long process of rebuilding her confidence, piece by piece, learning to undo the lies she had been made to believe and discovering the power of her voice. She shared the challenges of starting over, the moments of doubt, and the small victories that carried her forward.

“I learned to love myself again… to recognise the woman I truly was. Not broken. Not weak. Healing is possible. Beginning again is possible,” she said.

Her message to women still living with abuse was unwavering: “You are not to be blamed. You are not alone. You are worth more than the pain you are carrying.”

The Red Shoe event, held as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, honoured women who lost their lives to violence and uplifted those still fighting to reclaim their own.