The issue of domestic violence in Australia for long has been a topic of intense discourse but apart from sporadic self-aware campaigns organised by various advocacy group mostly around International Women's Day (IWD), we regularly only hear about crime against women - that too, almost daily.
In today's multicultural Australia, with more Australians born overseas, who all bring their way of lives as they try to settle here, the challenges on educating how women should be treated in the 21st century are huge.
The issue of mistreatment of women is not a migrant community issue but a social issue that Australia has been grappling for a long time.
A published in 2017, revealed that on an average, every week a woman in Australia loses her life by the hand of her current or a former partner, while 1 in 4 women told a personal safety survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that their partners emotionally abused them.
Then there are other papers that present startling findings such as violence by intimate partners is the leading contributors to illness, disability and premature deaths of women in Australia.
However, there are some rays of hope too.
Community-led organisations like aptly named Didi Bahini Samaj Victoria (DBSV) – which translates as Sisters Society Victoria - are slowly realising their potential and trying to work things out - inside out.
Didi Bahini Samaj Victoria Team (Image source: Jeewan Rashaili Photography via DBSV) Source: Jeewan Rashaili Photography via DBSV
Illustrating the burning but the most taboo issue of violence against women partners in a subcontinental patriarchal society, DBSV recently released a 10 minute-long docudrama "Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu" or "I will now, speak".
The short teledrama fully subtitled in English, dramatises how a Nepali migrant woman living with her husband and two kids, suffocates under the social stigma of domestic violence and abuse from her intimate partner before braving to intervene in her spiralling downward life.
Barsha KC Rajbhandary, who came up with the concept of the short film, after witnessing and helping out domestic violence in migrant women from the Nepali community in Melbourne, says she is stoked from all the words of encouragement she has heard since the release on social media.
Source: SBS Nepali
"I thought we needed to be the voice of vulnerable ones," she told SBS Nepali.
"We wanted to deliver a strong message that it's not cool for partners to abuse or overpower their female counterparts in a domestic setting," says KC Rajbhandary who also plays the lead role in the Melbourne production.
She says rather than stretching the storyline akin to subcontinental feature films, the production team felt it was essential to keep it short and to the point.
Still from Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu Source: Still from Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu
"We wanted the message to be loud and clear and not disengage our audience from the social justice message," she says.
The Movie
Image
"Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu" is a window into a "happy" migrant Nepali family who dreams big and has hope of bettering their life in Australia.
However, things start to get out of control as the daily grind takes a toll, and the relationship begins to suffer between the husband and wife.
As KC Rajbhandary points out, docu-drama, based on several real-life events takes a turn for good, but only after help is sought to break the stigmas surrounding the incidents that play behind closed doors.
The movie, despite the low production budget, delivers big on the social message by not only depicting the issues of women in a migrant setting but also by showing them hope.
The story by Kamala Chalise-Humagain blends well the despair and abuse with hope and finally able to show that getting help is not as bad as it is stigmatised in society.
Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu is a story by Kamala Chalise Humagain (Image Source: Still from Aba Ta Ma Bochhu) Source: Still from Aba Ta Ma Bochhu
She states the DBSV team identified a significant point that domestic abuse is not only physical but also mental, financial and barring women from venturing out of their homes to socialise.
"I think our culture makes us put a fake smile when we step out of our homes and from our experience with dealing amongst many migrant women, we have identified this as a concurrently reoccurring theme across the different cohorts like students, young professionals or just plain housewives."
According to DBSV’s own research, 41 per cent of the women, when abused by their partners, do not want to speak about it - simply because they don't want a family breakdown and to hurt their offspring.
Another message the movie conveys is that every victim of such abuse is perfectly capable in their way to raise their concerns.
The film also portrays the breakdown and its impact on the children. (Image Source: Still from Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu) Source: Still from Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu
"Because we don't retaliate, with our male partners, they get emboldened. So with every little incident, the problem grows," KC Rajbhandary asserts.
She says, emphatically, the movie is not about demonising everyone from the opposite sex.
Acknowledging that there are many families where without creative contributions from their male partners, women would not be able to achieve many things they sought, she says DBSV team was proud of Gyanendra Uprety, who plays the role of the abusing husband in the movie without much angst despite the negativity around the role.
People suffering from domestic violence can contact 1800 7370732, on 131114, on 1300 766 491, 1300 364 277 or 1800 551 800.
KC Rajbhandary is proud of her co actor Gyanendra Uprety who plays the role of an abusing partner Source: Aba Ta Ma Bolchhu
Call 000 for Police and Ambulance help if you are in an immediate danger situation.
