Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) -3006

Tonight's special guest is Geraldine Cullum (Geri) from Indianapolis, Indiana. "As a child, I grew up not liking visits with my grandparents on my father's side, especially my grandpa," she says. "You see, he didn't kiss me as most my family members' (on the cheek, or forehead). He would stick his tongue in my mouth. One trip on the way home to Indiana, my sister and I heard sad words about grandpa. I tried to speak up, saying; 'I don't like the way gram-pa kisses me' and my mom spoke sternly saying, 'that's enough, that's non-sense'. I remember saying, 'and I don't like the way he puts his fingers in my baby sister's diaper's either.' I remember mom's words. 'Now hush, you're putting shame on your father,' and 'that's enough, that's ugly, hush now or we'll stop and get a switch'. I fell into sexual addiction, alcohol, food addiction in my young adult life to mid-life. The recovery process has been a lifetime of moving from one recovery group to another, never really succeeding until I found my sister of Joy, Barbara Henson. She opened my eyes to the materials in her recovery program she facilitates. I didn't remember my abuse anymore, not until I built my timeline, which opened the flood gates to my recovery. Her two books are called, 'Beyond the Darkness, Healing for Sexual Abuse,' and 'Listen to the Cry of the Child.' At first I rejected even the thought of sexual abuse begin present in my life. Now I help others in my surrounding community find their own words. In the future, I want to build a safe home for teens and young adults."