IN SPITE of having to deal with the permanent reminder of the abuse; the hurt and the rejection, Shondell Williamson is now ready to put the past behind her and move on as best she could.

Williamson, the 26-year-old Berbician beauty, who recently made the headlines when she was doused with acid because she dared say “Enough is enough!” is thanking her lucky stars she’s alive, and now appealing for help to save her failing sight, for the sake of her children.

In an interview with Capitol News’ Royston Drakes, Shondell spoke of what her relationship’s like these days with her own children.
“They talk to me; they look at me, but they wouldn’t come close to me. “If I say, ‘Come touch me,’ they will say ‘No!’ But they’re just there, talking to me as normal,” Shondell said.
“That is painful,” she added, as the tears coursed down her once beautiful face.

Then, as if summoning an inner strength, she sniffles and wipes the tears away and immediately begins calling on women out there, who may themselves be subject to domestic abuse to let go; to walk away from that relationship.

THE ABUSE
She knows better than most what she’s talking about, as for close to ten years, she’s had to endure physical abuse at the hands of the very man she loved.

She said the only reason she stayed, is because she’d hoped that some day he’d come around; but after realising that that was not likely, she decided to end the relationship, and move back to New Amsterdam, where she’s from.

Alfred De Younge, called ‘Natta Boy’, 37, reportedly travelled all the way from Linden on the evening of January 19, 2017 and launched his final attack. And as he poured the acid all over her, he told her, “If I can’t have you, no one else can.”

Williamson related in the interview with Drakes that it was she who called De Younge that day; that it was the first time she did since she walked away from the relationship during a particularly abusive episode one afternoon last December.

“It was around afternoon time I ring his phone; that was the first time I ring his phone since we had a scene on the Linden Highway. That was December 13,” Shondell said, adding:
“From since that day, I never called him; but on January 19, that was the first time I ever called his phone.”

THE CALL
And the reason she called him, Shondell said, was because she’d been receiving a lot of complaints of late from her son’s teacher about his behaviour.

Detailing the sequence of events, Shondell said:
“The reason why I called his phone was because I was calling him fuh leh he talk to the big boy, because he does mostly listen to him.
“So I just call his phone for he to talk to him, and ask if he could just keep him; leh the big boy stay with him…
“I explain to him; he call me back and he told me that he’s gonna take both of the kids. And I say, ‘Okay, sure!’
“He had wanted to talk to them, but I told him not at this moment; that he should get back to me.” Surprisingly, he agreed.

Sometime later, she was at home at the house she shares with her friend in New Amsterdam, when she saw a white car pull up.
Not expecting anyone, she didn’t pay it any mind; and besides, her friend’s brother was outside.

But the next she knew, she heard someone calling for ‘Shondell’. Turned out it was the driver of the said white vehicle, but it was a voice she didn’t recognise.

Her friend’s brother, she said, asked the man in the white car to hold on; that he was going to get her. But when she eventually got there, the man had already driven off.

Puzzled as to who it might be, she went back inside.
“I didn’t dig anything,” she said. “We was like, ‘Who could that person be to just come and say, ‘Shondell! and drive away.’ So, we just leave it like that.”

AMBUSHED!
Sometime during the course of the evening, she went out on the road. It was while she was returning home that he struck.
“I was standing there… And something just tell me, ‘Shondell, turn to your left.’ When I turn, I saw him approaching me.
“I know it was him,” she said. “The walk, the body structure, the face, everything…
“But it’s just the way he looked; he looked so strange, so I left staring at him, cause he had these, like, weave in his hair… And he had like a female garment on. So it leave me shocked, and so I just left staring at him.”

It was her friend who came to her rescue, but by that time, it was too late; the die had already been cast.

Her entire face has been disfigured, as well as her upper body, which had also been burnt in the attack, and is now wracked in pain. And to crown it all, she’s now losing her vision.

“Right now, my vision is very dull; I’m not seeing that clear, only close up. My body, it does be painful sometimes, but I’m getting there,” Shondell said with an air of calm.

Her advice to other victims of domestic violence is: “Get out of it; fast! Even to the first hit; don’t think it will end there! It will continue!”
But in spite of it all, she feels that God is somehow using her for a purpose.
“I think God has a plan for me, so I can be a testimony to others; so I could be closer to Him,” she said, adding:
“And when I walk, people should look at me and say, ‘Yes, indeed, she is a testimony. God has saved her because look what she was and look what she is today.”

Williamson had spent several weeks in medical care in hospital, after which she was discharged into the care of her family. Saving Hands Emergency Aid (SHEA) has reached out and secured an appointment at a US hospital, where she will be put in the hands of specialist doctors.

Meanwhile, a strongly supported petition has been thrown out on social media by Woman Activist, Nicole Cole for the government to establish a fund for survivors of Domestic Violence to avoid victims having to seek funds publicly.
Anyone who would like to contribute financially to Williamson’s cause can do so at http:// savinghandsemergencyaid.org/shondellwilliamson or: https://www.gofundme.com/ saveshondell or, directly to her bank account in Guyana: Bank: GBTI. Name: Lottia Williamson Account#: 0010- 6249 – 2017.