Domestic-abuse survivor Anh Le now works as an advocate at the Asian Women's Home in San Jose.

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Giving hope, shelter to battered women
CLIENTS FIND A HAVEN FROM HORRORS OF ABUSE

years ago in Vietnam, Anh Le lived an affluent life as a respected doctor, living in a nice home with her pediatrician husband and her son. Inside its walls, however, she endured 17 years of fierce beatings.

``Domestic violence could happen to anyone, any social group,'' says Anh, 53, who is now an advocate at the Asian Women's Home, a domestic violence program of Asian Americans for Community Involvement, based in San Jose. ``It's been 15 years since, but I still have nightmares.''

What frustrates Anh is that she and her then-husband were trained to help people, yet she couldn't help herself -- as a Roman Catholic, she didn't think a divorce was possible, and as a mother, she thought she should stay for her son's sake. ``I thought God was punishing me,'' she says.

She finally divorced her husband after his last attack left her hospitalized for three months with severe head trauma. Now, as a family advocate, Anh says the stories she hears sometimes cause painful flashbacks, but that it's worth it.

``I look at success stories, and that's my reward, knowing that my clients are fine, starting over,'' she says.

At the shelter, Carrie (not her real name) is trying to start over, but lives in fear of her abuser, who she says told her: ``You go anywhere, and I will find you. I will kill you.'' She worries about protecting her son, who cries at the sight of his father. When Carrie was pregnant, her partner would push on her stomach, choke and beat her, and restrict her food and bathroom use. After she left, he tracked her down, broke the window on her car and damaged its engine.

Carrie found a haven at the Asian Women's Home, where she could get food, clothing, legal help, emotional support and assistance in her native language. It is one of several agencies offering hope to women leaving abusive relationships. Others include Next Door in San Jose, Shelter Against Violent Environments (SAVE) in Fremont and Support Network for Battered Women in Mountain View.

Clients often arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs, so the shelters are in constant need of items ranging from soap to pajamas.

Each donation of $39 (28A) will buy a month's bus pass for a mom in one of the shelters. Each $10 (28B) goes toward cozy pajamas for a child. Each $12 (28C) will provide a storybook or a toy. Each $25 donation (28D) will go toward purchasing grocery and drugstore certificates to buy food, formula, diapers and personal items. And for kids feeling lonely and lost, each $8 (28E) will provide the fuzzy companionship of a stuffed animal.