Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2748

Tonight's special guest is Claudia P Marulanda from New York City, New York, who is  originally from Colombia. Her child abuse started early. "I was abused by two individuals when I lived in my country," she says. "One was a family member, my mother's cousin, and I believe the abuse started when I was very young. I might have been four or five years old, possibly younger. The second person who abused me was a man who lived in the house and I was about 7 years of age." Claudia was also abused in America. "When I was 10 years old, I came to live to the USA, and this is when my stepfather sexually abused me." Claudia explains, "At 19 I became pregnant with my son. Luckily I was able to finish college and graduated with an Art and Advertising degree. I became an Art Director in the Publishing industry until I hit an emotional rock bottom, as I like to call it." She continues, "My healing journey started right before age 40. I had hit an emotional rock bottom and it led me to enroll in a self-development course. This is where the opportunity to speak about what had happened came up. I refused to talk about it at first, but something within me told me to let it out." Claudia has been doing well. "I’m a visual artist and I realized that art played a huge roll in my healing journey. I started drawing and painting when I hit the emotional rock bottom. Art is basically what has helped me express myself and it has helped me reflect on my life. I’m now beginning to do art workshops and courses to support women in their healing using art as the vehicle."