Lilia’s Journey to Self-Confidence

The 16 Days of Activism against
Gender-Based Violence campaign is an annual event focused on raising awareness and calling for action to end violence against women and girls. World Renew participates in this campaign each year. Their staff have heard the testimonies of women who have endured beatings at the hands of their husbands, girls not allowed to attend school and forced into early marriages, women who have been made to feel useless because of the insults of their communities, and many other examples of injustice perpetrated against women and girls.

Lilia* has known the pain of abuse. In Syria, where she lives, a civil war began in 2011 with protests against the Assad regime. 

“We lost our home very suddenly in the war as a shell fell on it,” shared Lilia, who was in grade 6 at the time. “We came out from under the rubble in complete shock.”

Displaced, Lilia’s family set up a tent that provided insufficient shelter from the rain and cold.

“We lived through harsh days in those conditions, until my mother had to sell her gold so that we could buy two sheep . . . hoping that it would provide us with a source of food,” said Lilia. Still, Lilia had to quit school to help support her family.

Although Lilia and her mother worked long hours in the fields, the family continued to struggle to meet their basic needs. 

“I convinced myself that this life was temporary, and that there was an opportunity waiting for me,” Lilia said. 

Then things changed: Lilia found a way out of poverty—but not out of despair. 

“At that time, a 25-year-old man who worked in agriculture and had land and property proposed to me. My family convinced me that marrying him would be a lifeline and a way out of poverty, so I agreed,” Lilia explained. “Just a week after our marriage, my husband started showing his true face. One morning I was asked to graze and milk the sheep, but I didn't know how to do that. When I failed to do it, I got the first blow from my husband and his mother, and it was just the beginning of a daily pattern of constant emotional and physical violence. They even deprived me of food.” 

Lilia felt alone. One of the deepest scars a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV) carries is emotional scarring that can often lead to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

“Every day I went to bed crying and woke up scared,” Lilia said. “I couldn't look in the mirror anymore because all I could see was a broken woman, disfigured by sadness and fear.”

Physical violence is wrong, but some forms of GBV aren’t as obvious. Child marriage violates a girl’s human rights and is usually deep-rooted in discriminatory social norms that devalue girls and women. After months of abuse, Lilia eventually left her husband and returned to her parents’ home where she was ridiculed and blamed for her failed marriage, deepening her emotional pain and leaving her feeling more isolated and hopeless. 

World Renew, with funding support from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, works through a local church partner to share Christ’s hope with vulnerable people in Syria. This support includes food baskets, winter kits, and more. The church became a lifeline for Lilia. 

“That was the first time I felt that someone was supporting me without condemning me,” she said. “That was one year ago, and since then I have benefited from individual and group counseling, awareness sessions, recreational activities, and referrals to doctors and vocational trainings, including sewing and nursing courses.” 

Lilia said the sewing lessons changed her life, giving her a way to generate income. 

“Over time, I became more confident in myself and discovered I had more talent than I realized,” she explained. “Please pray that God will fill my heart with peace so that I may stay strong and keep going despite all the difficulties.” 

Violence, such as the physical GBV Lilia experienced, happens in every society. Another form of GBV is cyberviolence—the focus of this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign. 

Cyberviolence is the use of technology to harass, threaten, humiliate, or socially exclude someone. The United Nations (UN) estimates that, globally, 73 percent of women have experienced cyberviolence and that women are 27 times more likely to be harassed online than men. The UN also reports that cyberviolence often leads to offline violence, such as coercion, physical abuse, and even femicide—killing of women and girls. 

World Renew recognizes that any form of GBV is unjust. Join others in raising awareness—invite a friend, neighbor, or your church group to join in praying that, around the world, all women and girls will come to know they are wonderfully and beautifully made by God and deserving of love and respect. Pray too that the hearts of perpetrators of violence and abuse will be filled with God’s mercy so that they will extend love, not pain. 

A worship guide and a devotional and advocacy guide from World Renew are available to assist you.

*Name changed to protect identity