Nikki

Her uncle beat and strangled her. She escaped when police sirens interrupted the attack, and he was later imprisoned after she took the case to court.

Her family sided with him. Her grandmother called him the “survivor” and treated the attack as something that had simply got out of hand. For seeking protection, she became the one accused of turning on the family: selfish, angry and cruel.

The violence was devastating, but the family's response brought its own lasting pain. For years, she struggled with suicidal thoughts while being treated as the villain for what had been done to her.

She is a mother and a wife, as well as a survivor. She wants someone looking at her portrait to know that there can be a life beyond the darkest period, even when the people who should have stood beside you did not.