Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1988

Tonight's special guest is Nancy V Brown from Atlanta, Georgia, a child sexual abuse survivor who now serves NAASCA as our West Virginia Ambassador. At age 5 Nancy was sexually abused several times by an older family member. She told her mother what happened, but where she lived in Costa Rican culture sexual abuse was viewed as bringing shame to the family and therefore most victims are encouraged to keep it a secret. Due to this, Nancy kept the family secret of her abuse for most of her life, but the trauma severely affected her. She ended up dropping out of school in 8th grade, running away, and entering the juvenile justice and foster care systems. After becoming a teen mother she turned her life around by focusing on her education and career. Behind the successes she kept hidden her struggles with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and chronic nightmares. She finally decided to write her book, 'My Costa Rican Humming Bird Sings', to address the question “why do victims feel ashamed for being victims?” and to help other survivors to hold on to hope and not give up. Nancy says, “If I can survive so can you. You are NOT alone.” The book shares her life story of family, abuse, teenage pregnancy, divorce, single motherhood, racism, alcoholism and more .. and the the unending power of God's unconditional love. "I turned my life around completely," she says. "One thing I always avoided was sharing my very messy, painful and dark past until God called me out to serve people like me. He said to me 'how dare you survive and not help someone else survive?'"