Why My Parents Tried to Kill Me. There's No Honour in Killing - Uncut with Nina Aouilk
Dec 5, 2023
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Nina Aouilk, a leading activist, shares harrowing moments from her life, discussing abuse, forced marriage, and surviving an 'honour killing' attack. She emphasizes the importance of speaking up, finding courage in adversity, and raising awareness about gender-based violence. The conversation also explores the cultural context of abuse and discrimination, small acts of kindness, the impact of religion and race, and finding support and sharing experiences.
Nina Aouilk's harrowing life experiences highlight the urgent need to address honor killings and gender-based violence.
Cultural norms and societal pressures perpetuate abuse and hinder victims from seeking help.
Nina's resilience and advocacy work demonstrate the importance of support systems and breaking the cycle of abuse.
Deep dives
Childhood Struggles and Cultural Norms
Nina Olk, a survivor and mindset coach, shares her harrowing childhood experiences marked by abuse, neglect, and cultural discrimination. Born into a family that devalued girls, Nina faced domestic violence, rape, and attempts at honor killing. She highlights the societal pressures, cultural intelligence, and skewed perceptions of honor that perpetuate gender-based violence.
Escape and Marriage
After enduring years of abuse, Nina escapes her abusive family and seeks refuge with a friend. However, she later enters into a sham marriage as a result of family pressures and cultural norms. She describes the physical and sexual abuse she faced within the marriage, as well as the culture of control and fear that perpetuated her suffering.
Struggles in Seeking Help
Nina shares her struggles in seeking help due to cultural conditioning and fear of consequences. She recounts instances where authorities failed to respond adequately to reports of abuse, highlighting the need for increased cultural intelligence and awareness to effectively address such issues.
Cycle of Abuse and resilience
Nina's story sheds light on the cycle of abuse perpetuated by cultural norms and the need for comprehensive support systems. Despite enduring immense hardship, Nina's resilience shines through as she works towards healing herself and raising awareness to break the cycle of abuse.
Surviving Domestic Violence and Finding Hope
This podcast episode shares the story of a survivor of domestic violence. The speaker discusses the cultural pressures and expectations that influenced her decision to stay in an abusive relationship. She describes the fear of her parents' reaction and their attempt to harm her. Despite the abuse, she starts a successful business and builds a beautiful home. However, her partner's aggression escalates, and she experiences a traumatic loss when her baby dies. Determined to live, she escapes the abusive relationship and finds temporary refuge before becoming homeless. She rebuilds her life, helping others in similar situations, and advocates for change in the legal system to protect victims of domestic violence.
The Journey to Recovery and Helping Others
After finally leaving the abusive relationship, the survivor starts over in a new location. She faces challenges in accessing support from larger organizations and shares her disappointment in their lack of assistance. However, she highlights the importance of smaller organizations and individuals who offer genuine help. She emphasizes the need for self-care, self-love, and reframing past trauma. The speaker also acknowledges the impact of sharing her story and the numerous messages she receives from people around the world, seeking help and sharing their own experiences. She encourages victims to reach out for support and offers her organization as a resource.
Today’s episode is a conversation about ‘honour killings’ with the absolutely incredible Nina Aouilk. Nina grew up in the UK. She has overcome enormous hardship and adversity to become one of the leading activists speaking out about honour killings and human trafficking.
Nina is also a bestselling author, a TEDx speaker and the founder of nonprofit End Honour Killings that provides welfare and support to the victims of attempted honour killings, gender-based violence, domestic abuse, and trauma.
In this chat Nina opens up on suffering abuse at the hands of her father and his friends, being forced into a marriage as a child, and surviving an 'honour killing' attack.
In this episode we speak about:
Some of the most harrowing moments from Nina’s life
How that has moulded Nina into who she is today
The reality of what is happening in the homes of the places we all live
Why we all need to speak up
How to find the courage to rise above your adversity
*This interview contains details of some distressing content. This includes emotional, sexual and physical abuse as well as mentions of suicide. If this episode brings up anything for you, you can reach out for help at 1800 RESPECT, or life line on 13 11 14. If it’s not the right time for you to listen right now, please sit this one out and we would love to have you join us again at another time.
You can find Nina's website here End Honour Killings can be found here