behind closed doors

Behind closed doors

For many Macau families, domestic violence is a brutal reality

Rehearsing for a school play a teacher asks a group of Macau kindergarten students to role play dinner time at home. A little girl sets about preparing the meal and laying the table. Suddenly, a boy storms into the room and yells, “Where’s my dinner?”. She happily puts a plate in front of him, he glares at it and screams as he sends the plate flying across the room. By now, the teacher is in shock, the children are numb and the little girl is crying. The headmaster phones the mother of the boy, she is mortified when told what happened. The family is referred to a counsellor and the mother reveals she has been the victim of domestic violence for more than five years.fect that it had on the child was just terrible,” the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, says. “This happened many years ago but it is something that in all my years teaching that I will never forget. The boy was just acting what he was used to seeing and this type of thing happening is not uncommon.” Ask the experts and they will all tell youthat domestic violence transcends gender, age and class boundaries. Professional, highly educated people are just as likely to end up in violent relationships as those living in poverty. The wealthier might have the option of seeking help from private counselling services, while others turn to crisis hotlines or refuges. Many rely on family and friends for help and then there are those, like the little boy’s mother, who suffer in silence. Statistics show the majority of people in Macau whoseek help for domestic violence are women. Sister Juliana Devoy, director of Macau’s Good Shepherd Centre which serves women in crisis, says there are a multitude [...]