This week, we’d like to help a woman called Mara and her 9 year old daughter.

Mara arrived at a women’s refuge last year with a black eye, bruises on her body and burns on her legs. Her and her little girl had been through unimaginable trauma.

For over a decade, Mara lived in a controlling and abusive relationship. It began just after she married her husband. He became controlling, to the point where he was isolating her from friends and family and controlling everything she did. She felt useless and worthless. The emotional abuse escalated and he started to hit her, kick her and sexually abuse her. Mara’s daughter witnessed a lot of the abuse, and she has since told her mum that her dad used to tell her she was fat and slap her.

After a few failed attempts to escape, Mara found the strength to leave last year. A friend saw bruises on her face and called the police. Mara’s ex-partner was arrested and has pleaded guilty to multiple charges. He is awaiting sentencing.

Mara and her daughter have been staying at a refuge and trying to rebuild their lives. Mara’s daughter is finally starting to enjoy her childhood without fear…playing, spending time with friends, and feeling free for the first time.

They have just been offered a two-bedroom social housing property, but after fleeing in a hurry, they lost everything. The landlord of their previous home wasn’t able to reach them so he disposed of all their belongings. They're sleeping on an air mattress at the moment, with their clothes piled on the floor. We want to provide Mara and her daughter with the essentials they need to make their new house a home. Her daughter’s room is quite small, so we’d like to buy some space-saving furniture for her too so she has room to play. We'd also like to pay for some holidays clubs and after school activities for her.

Mara said: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing to help me and my daughter. This means the world to us.”

*Name has been changed