Daughters of Saint Augustine community is running a program form batter wives since the establishment our main social branch - Fatima Center for Human Development in San Agustine in 1975.

Unfortunately even today woman from the poorest parts of the society are being less protected and most affected for domestic violence from their husbands. The fact that they mostly are uneducated and unskilled makes them depended from their husbands and forces them to bare harsh treatment from and doesn't leave them any way to escape from such situation.

This mostly happens in the families affected by alcoholism, drugs, gambling.

This social evil also seriously affects the children of such couples, who grow up in the atmosphere of continuous fear, quarrel and violence. In these circumstances is very important to isolate young children from such kind of environment to avoid further physiological trauma and determination of young characters.

In this situation we feel urge to help such a woman to get out of this destructive environment and assist them and their children to start new dignified and more independent life.

In our apostolate to such woman apart of providing them and their children temporary food and shelter we are trying to focus on three main points: basic counseling, values formation and livelihood training.

Basic counseling includes an understanding and companionate conversation with a counselor who is trying to put herself as much close to the victim and her problem. It also includes allaying victim's fears and fears and insecurities by providing them assurance of support to her situation.

Values formation implies Christian education, basic catechism and gospel shearing and reflection and leadership training which help woman to discover her God given potentials to develop herself and her family.

We had to include this measure to the rehabilitation process because we can sense the lack of basic Christian values and formation among the woman who are being referred to our center.

Livelihood education is porously included to the rehabilitation process to help battered woman an ability to support their children and to make their life more reliant.

Livelihood projects basically consist from the sustainable agriculture, swine rising, garments and footwear making, sawing, soap making and food processing.

The skills which woman can receive in these courses are very applicable to their reality and routine life and may help to get for them real source of income.

For the time of existing the program several hundreds of woman could havechance to change and improve their lives and lives of their children.

At the moment we are providing the assistance to 4 battered wives and who all in all have 17 children who also staying with us in Fatima Center.

The children of them were severely malnourished so we had to provide medical assistance.

We hope that as times goes on this particular service of ours would be less needed because the quality of life of the Filipinos and the family life our neighborhood will seriously improve.