Voices of Hope
Voices of Hope is a Rotary storytelling initiative designed to preserve stories of resilience, service, leadership, and hope while creating a sustainable source of funding for future humanitarian projects.
Voices of Hope
The Birth of Despertar Sin Violencia
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The Birth of Despertar Sin Violencia
Every movement begins with a single moment.
In this special episode of Voices of Hope, we share a dramatic retelling inspired by the lived experiences of the founder of Despertar Sin Violencia, one of the charities supported this year by Rotary Club Marbella Cosmopolitan International.
While the dialogue and narrative have been recreated for storytelling purposes, the episode is based on the founder’s real journey through domestic violence, divorce, and the courageous decision to seek safety for herself and her children. It tells the emotional story of how one woman’s search for hope became a mission to ensure that no one has to face violence alone.
This is a work of dramatic nonfiction—fact-based, respectfully adapted, and created to honor the resilience, courage, and purpose behind the founding of Despertar Sin Violencia.
Listener discretion is advised. This episode contains themes of domestic violence and may be distressing for some audiences.
https://www.despertarsinviolencia.org/
What Gives You Hope?
https://www.instagram.com/professorastrel?igsh=YmV5cDg4YWtqb3Z6
https://www.instagram.com/rotaryclubmarbellacosmopolitan?igsh=MWQyN2N1ZW5laHZ3Yw==
Support in 2026-2027 from RCMCI includes recipients:
https://www.instagram.com/fundacioncudeca?igsh=b3d6cHJ4bHRidGlm
https://www.instagram.com/asociacion_principito?igsh=cnJqNXM1d2xicmlk
Welcome to today's episode of Voices of Hope, Carmen's Story. Before we begin, today's episode includes themes of domestic violence and divorce. If these subjects are difficult for you, please take care as you listen. There are moments in our lives that seem impossible to reconcile the memories we hold.
SPEAKER_00Today, Carmen shares one of those moments. I still remember the day we met.
SPEAKER_01He was the most charming, the most gentle man I'd ever known. In a world that almost felt busy, uncertain, and demanding, he became my place of comfort. I felt seen. I felt heard. And most of all, I felt protected.
SPEAKER_00It's strange how memories can become strangers themselves.
SPEAKER_01Because when I look back now, that feeling belongs to a whole nother lifetime. Somewhere along the way, the safety I believe I found all disappeared. The home I built became the place filled with fear instead of peace. And at first I convinced myself I could endure it. I told myself that things would change. I wanted my children to have a family. I wanted to believe that love could repair what violence had broke.
SPEAKER_00But then one day everything changed.
SPEAKER_01There's something that awakens inside of a mother when the fear is no longer her own. In that moment, the question was no longer whether or not I could survive. The question became whether my children could. Because finally, I understood that safety had to become certainty. A friend had told me that there was someone that she knew that I had to meet. So while my children played in a nearby courtyard, I sat down for what I thought was just a quick, easy coffee, and instead it became the beginning.
SPEAKER_00The beginning of a movement. I remember like it was yesterday.
SPEAKER_01Celeste called out to me, Carmen, Carmen, Vinaka, Vinaka. And we greeted each other with a familiar double kiss before sitting down together. Celeste reached across the table and she gently took my hand in hers. How can I help? The words came through tears as I tried to withhold myself.
SPEAKER_00Carmen, tell me, she said.
SPEAKER_01Celestes began to attack the children. I can't go back.
SPEAKER_00For a moment there was a thick silence. I remember it.
SPEAKER_01But the silence didn't feel like uncertainty. It was somehow comforting. I felt like I was with someone who truly understands. And then Celeste said to me softly, we deserve to live in a world without violence. Not some women, not women with money, not women with somewhere else to go, but all women. And those words right there planted a seed. At first it was only hope, but then hope became purpose. Because I realized something profound. Escaping violence should never depend on luck. It should never depend on meeting the right person at the right cafe or on the right day. Every woman, man, boy, child deserves someone who believes in them. Everyone deserves a home that feels like a safe place. That day, that conversation became more than just my story. It became my mission, much bigger than my own story.
SPEAKER_00I was determined to help everyone, anyone suffering from domestic violence. After my divorce, I gave birth to an organization dedicated to a world without violence.
SPEAKER_01The organization stands beside victims of all genders, searching for the very things that I was on that day: safety, dignity, guidance, and the courage to begin again with the support to do so. I remind survivors that leaving is not the end of their story. It's the beginning, a reclaiming. My life was no longer defined by the violence that I endured. It was defined by the hope that grew from surviving it. Because sometimes the greatest triumph isn't simply escaping. It's becoming the person who reaches back to help someone else find the same path to freedom. And that is what gives me hope. If you'd like to learn more about Disprestarce Team Valencia or support the work that we do alongside the Rotary Club Marbella Cosmopolitan International, you'll find the link in today's episode description. Thank you for listening to Voices of Hope. Until next time.
