I always lived alone with my dad because my mom passed away when I was four years old and nobody in my family ever wanted to take care of me. My dad found it very difficult to take care of me and go to work, so after school I used to go to swimming lessons by myself.
At age 15, I met at school a girl who hated me because I was completely against abortion. She would always say me: “That’s because they never raped you.” And I replied that even if someone did, I would never kill my son because he would not be to blame for that violent aggression.
One day, while waiting for the bus, she and her brother got me in a car and raped me. To be honest, this hasn’t caused me any permanent trauma, although that day I felt disgusting. But just in that moment. . . .
I told my dad what happened, and I still do not understand why, but he felt guilty for not being able to pick me up because of his work. He was not to blame because, truly, it was impossible for him to pick me up. He had to work because otherwise, we would not be able to eat.
We are from Croatia, although we now live in Argentina where life is easier for us. But in Croatia, everything was more complicated and I had to stop attending swim lessons after the rape.
Four months later, I started fainting and having very low blood glucose levels. I am a diabetic and I went to the doctor where they told me that I was pregnant and that I had to have an abortion because the pregnancy came from a rape.
The so-called “doctor” told me that my son was disgusting — all for a crime my son did not commit! She said he would not survive because of my low blood glucose levels. I started to cry and to say that I did not understand why she was against my son if he had not done anything wrong.
My dad grabbed my hand and pulled me out without a word. The only thing he told me when we got into the car was that, when my son was born, I had start working because with my father’s salary, he wasn’t going to be able to pay for everything. I knew that my father would never ask me to kill my son and his words made me very happy.
I kept going to school, eating right so that my blood sugar did not drop. My classmates always looked at me badly and said that my son was going to ruin my life. But I never responded to them because my son really is my reason to live.
He is a very good boy and there are people who look at him rudely because, in one way or another, they learned how he was conceived. At the age 5 he said, “They’re bad Mommy, and I’m good, that’s why they look at me like that.”He still does not know how he was conceived. I will tell him when he grows up, but my son is the best thing that has happened in my life and I would go through everything that happened again to see my son every day, and also to see my father’s joy when he looks at his grandson and says: “At last, a boy for me”.
Now I am studying to become a teacher and my son comes to school with me from time to time and gets very spoiled there. When I experienced what it was like to be a mother, I understood what true happiness is.
BIO: Akli Ahlet, from Argentina, sent the Spanish division of Save The 1, Salvar El 1 this testimony to share it and to help other women who have been through something similar. Here is her story in Spanish.
