The Silent Cry for Help: Spuse Abuse in Micronesia

Samuel, Eugenia (2003). [www.micsem.org The Silent Cry for Help: Spuse Abuse in Micronesia]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–8.

• Has attachment: File:HNCZ99IR.pdf

Abstract: "...Maia is not alone in her plight. Wife beating, or what is now called domestic violence, is a problem that is becoming widespread throughout Micronesia. It exists in many different forms, and it affects people’s lives in different ways. A young Pohnpeian woman claims that her husband always beats her up whenever he’s drunk. One day he was mad because she didn’t serve him food quickly enough, so he picked up a glass of water and threw at her. The glass broke on her head. As she tried to run to the door, he grabbed her hair, and then threw her against the wall of their kitchen. Before she could escape, he grabbed her hair again and smashed her face down hard on the counter. She suffered a broken forehead, a swollen and bruised face, and a bleeding nose. He continued to kick and punch her until she couldn’t stand any longer. He left her lying on the floor of their kitchen, and he drove away to drink some more.

A Kosraean told of his father who terorized their family whenever he was drunk. He used to spend all of his paycheck on liquor. He expected his meal to be ready as soon as he arrived home. They had such a big family, though, that by the time he got home, all the food was eaten by the children. That always triggered an angry outburst and a beating of his wife. The children were afraid to try to help her because their father would turn to beat them if anyone tried to stop him. His son explained that his mother was scarred all over her body from the whippings.

A Chuukese lady left her kids and took shelter with her parents after her husband kept drinking and beating her repeatedly on pay days when he started to have an affair with his secretary at work. They used to live with the husband’s parents on a separate island from her parents. Many people said the fellow was a heavy drinker, drinking away most of his paycheck and spending very little on his family. Yet, he hated to hear any complaints from his wife. Whenever she asked him to cut down on his drinking, he would get mad and beat her up. People said the wife could be seen with bruises and a black eye more often than not.

At times the violence leads to death. In the 1980s one Pohnpeian girl was repeatedly battered by her Chuukese husband while living in Chuuk with the husband and his family. The girl got very sick and died from the lacerations inflicted by her husband. Another Pohnpeian girl was beaten to death by her husband, reportedly out of jealousy, within a few years of the first case. Like many families nowadays, the couple lived in their own house by themselves with their three little children. Police officers in Pohnpei claim that five women were beaten to death by their husbands within the last 15 or 20 years...""