Written by: Joniqua the Genie

Before CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH ends, I want to say it’s about to be 2 years since l've last seen my niece.

These pictures are literally from the last time I saw her in June 2023.
I deleted my old Facebook account because I couldn't say anything without people messaging me or commenting on my post—asking me about her. Every comment/message was a reminder that I had FAILED her & myself. I just couldn’t.

I understand they were concerned, but I was struggling to cope with the fact that I don't know the next time I'll see her again and I didn’t have the answers to their questions regarding her well being and safety.
Let me tell you what REALLY happened around these two years.
When you try to break a generational curse, you activate Spiritual Warfare.

FEBRUARY 2023 – I left a 3-year relationship where I was sexually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and even financially abused. I can remember him choking me to the point where I passed out. After leaving him, I had to move back in with my family. The same people that beat on me and molested me when I was a child.

MARCH 2023 – I lost my first car that I was almost done paying off because I was scammed by a mechanic that I trusted. The week I lost my first car was the week I had paid up my car note for 3 months. The mechanic put a hole in my engine and stole parts from my car.

APRIL 2023 – I angrily confronted my mother and my siblings about the way I was abused as child. This led to me becoming homeless. I ended up moving in with a woman that had rats in her walls and ceilings and holes in her floor. BUT I was just happy to be away from the people that hurt me so much as a child. I ended up becoming homeless again because I found out she was secretly practicing witchcraft and trying to convert me from a child of God to a witch, like her.

MAY 2023 – I got back with my abusive ex because I did not have anywhere to go. The homeless shelters in Memphis were so packed that there was a waitlist to get on the waitlist. I also felt like it was unfair for me to be homeless when it was me who helped us get the place. I paid bills, and bought everything in the home. I worked two jobs and purchased my second car. The car I have today.

JUNE 2023 – I was disowned by almost my entire family because I exposed and confronted my mother, the parents of my niece and everybody living in the house with my niece for neglecting and abusing her. She was malnourished and dehydrated when I picked her up one day. Her hair was severely matted. All of her bones were showing, and she was showing signs of severe depression and suicide ideation. I felt like I was watching my niece die right in front of me. I raised $11,000 from GoFundMe and Cash-app to fight for custody over her.

JULY 2023 – As I was taking a bath, my ex asked me for some money. I sent him $300 from a check from my job. But he wanted more, he wanted my niece’s money. When I refused to give him more, he attacked me, he put my clothes in bags to throw outside and tried to put me out of the house while I was naked. I called the police, and they arrested me and him. I had to spend a night in jail. Right after that, I lost my job because I had to miss work to go to court for the incident. I also had to give up the custody battle.

AUGUST 2023 – So here I am….homeless, jobless, family-less, sleeping in my car, living in motels, group homes, living with people I barely know, living with rats and roaches. Having to start all over….again.

SEPTEMBER 2023 – I began renting a room from a man I barely knew in Cordova, TN. I paid him over 600 dollars a month. I was always respectful, quiet, and out the way. I never touched any of his belongings, never broke anything, never stole anything. He would leave his kids alone with me at home unannounced and I would watch them and pray over them. I did not know him. So, I avoided him. I only used my room and the bathroom inside of my room. He used to beg me to come out of my room and socialize with him. I would not. I just wanted somewhere to bathe and lay my head. Eventually, he started flirting with me and making passes at me….to which I ignored.

NOVEMBER 2023 – He started to bully me. In the cold winters, he would turn the heat off and leave me freezing. He would go into my room without my permission. He would take my clothes out of the dryer and put them on the floor. He would stomp and slam things all around the house to intimidate me. It just kept getting worse and worse. He would bring girls over to the house and have loud sex with them so I could hear them. The girls he would have at the house would pick at me and try to bully me too.

MARCH 2024 – I enrolled in school, got another job, and started preparing to move out of his house. I had to keep going to the E.R. for anxiety attacks, severe headaches and chest pains. I begged my mother to let me live with her because I felt like he was about to do something to me before I got away. He was upset that I was finally getting my life back together and I was about to move out. She refused to help me or let me stay with her. And during this time, my mother lived 3 minutes away from me in a 5-bedroom house.

MAY 2024 – He drugged me, and I lost my mind. I was eating random food off the ground, shaking, seizing, twitching, talking to myself, hallucinating, and more. My brain was pulsating, my pupils were dilated, and I could not eat or sleep. He poisoned me and I really think he been poisoning me long before I figured it out. He was trying to kill me or end and ruin my life. Because of this, I dropped out of school, lost my job, and had nowhere to live….again. He kept my mattress, my bed, some of my clothes, and all my jewelry.

JUNE 2024 – I fled back to my hometown in MS. And instead of helping me, my family judged me, kicked me while I was down, and gossiped about what happened to me. They blamed me for what happened to me. Some of them were happy to see me going through that and felt like I deserved it for exposing what was happening to my niece.

JULY 2024 – I moved back to Memphis to live with my God-father. I was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. Starting all over again.

AUGUST 2024 – I got a job.

OCTOBER 2024 – I got fired.

Despite all the setbacks and abuse, I still kept my faith and have worked very hard during those 2 years.

In December, I was able to move into my very first apartment, a luxury loft in one of the most beautiful parts of Memphis. This marked the beginning of peace, productivity, and prosperity.

THIS MONTH, I just established my own business & career as a business woman, CEO, children’s book author, child abuse advocate, book publisher, public speaker, and youth mentor.

THIS MONTH, I self-published my book that’s dedicated to my niece and every brown girl in the world.
I wrote this book in 2023 with tears in my eyes on the night that I realized that I don't know the next time I will see her.

I felt like I didn’t deserve to live after that.
I felt like I had taken away the only voice she had left.
I felt like they took her from me and they took me from her.
I've been quiet about her ever since I started going through spiritual warfare.

BUT I WON’T BE SILENCED.
HER STORY WILL BE TOLD
MINE WILL BE TOLD TOO.
I JUST CREATED ANOTHER WAY TO TALK TO HER.

#ChildAbusePrevention

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