Bonisha's story

Okay so hi! My name is Bonisha and I am 15 years old, and am a sophomore at Dougherty Valley High:) Here’s my story:

When I was 9 years old I went to India to visit my grandparents and in India elderly people usually have workers at their homes and so when I went there was a family who worked in my grandparent’s house. Throughout the trip, I eventually became really good friends with one of the workers. We would always play. On one of the last days there- the girl asked me to come to her house (which was very close to my grandparent’s house) so I went. Once we got there, there were 2 men and 3 other girls waiting for me. Without going into too much detail, what ended up happening was I got sexually assaulted. Before letting anything too drastic happen, I ran away.

5 years later I have never told anyone this story. The pain it put me through; physically and mentally was insane. Having Indian immigrant parents didn’t help because I felt “gross” and “ashamed”. This led to a lack of sleep from anxiety and panic attacks too often at night. A couple of months back; I came clean to my family about everything that happened and I told them about how broken it left me. Even though it was difficult telling my parents, eventually they understood and empathized. Now, I have a therapist and an amazing group of friends that support me. Truly, ever since I told the people I love about what happened- it helped my mental health immensely. Moral of the story: PLEASE don’t suppress your feelings/stories/emotions within and shut everyone out. It feels so so SO much better letting out.

- Bonisha