ACbit – Chega! Ba Ita Learning from the Past, for A Better Future
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Felismina dos Santos da Conceicao has said enough.
In 1991 Felismina was employed at a local military base where she had been copying military documents and smuggling them to resistance fighters in the forest. After being suspected, she was detained for five years; during this time she was tortured and suffered sexual violence.
When she got out of jail she maintained her commitment to the resistance and to help other victims. She sought out the priests who had visited her while she was detained, and started accompanying them to visit people in detention, smuggling out letters. In 1997, she joined a workshop with other women survivors. She was one of the first staff recruited by Fokupers, a local organization founded to address violence against women. In 2003, she worked as a researcher for CAVR on gender-based violence.
I feel like I have justice because I can eat two or three times a day, but for many of my female friends, their life is still a struggle and they are thirsty for justice. …I cannot say I am completely recovered. If I sit alone I always remember the past, everything comes back, but I can say that I am stronger, I work hard and reach out to women that require my assistance.
