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Over 100 years ago husbands carried out their marâ€" riages according to the "rule of thumb.‘"‘ That is, proâ€" viding the stick was no thicker than their thumb, it was perfectly acceptable to beat their wives when they weren‘t working up to par. "It‘s «always been happening," Ssays Barbara Samuel. Ms. Samuel, one of four staff members organizâ€" ing a regionâ€"wide service for battered wives and children, said that for years this deviant behaviour has been hidden and people have turned their heads the other way. _‘ ‘"After all it‘s just not something you talk to your neighbours about,"‘ she said. Women in Transition, an organization funded by Canada Works, has been set up in response to the cries of 300 battered women who approached social agencies in the Waterloo Region in 1976. Approxiâ€" mately 180 charges of assault were laid by wives against their spouses in the Waterloo Family Court. After more than a year of planning, social agencies including the Children‘s Aid Society, Catholic Social Agencies, Birthright, Canadian Mental Health, Kâ€"W Counselling, local hospitals, Rape Distress Centre, Juvenile and Family Court, and Health and Social Services, set up a steering committee. On Dec. 5, the office was opened on the second floor of the Kitchener YWCA. Ms: Samuel, Barb Zurawski, Cathy Huxtable and Eileen Zarnke were then hired to carry out their plans. In their statement of intent, the steering comâ€" mittee defines its purpose as "serving those women and children in our regional municipality, who are in actual or potential danger due to abuse or crisis." â€" The term abuse refers to both mental cruelty and wife battering. The organization will be involved in both preâ€" ventive and protective measures. Research into the social problems surrounding wife abuse and gatherâ€" ing statistics for the Region, will keep the staff busy for the first few weeks. The results will be passâ€" ed on to the public via speaking engagements at public meetings and women‘s groups and through the local media. The inevitable goal of Women in Transition is to set up a hostel where women and children in a crisis situation can spend a maximum of four to Six weeks. The hostel will not only be open to battered wives and their children but also to women who are in a state of transition and are lost and confused. The hostel will provide them with support and a place where they can share their experiences with others who are having similar difficulties. Cathy Huxtable says that while some agencies, such as welfare, may provide battered women with a place to stay for two or three nights, (usually in a local hotel or YWCA ) it is not enough time to sort out their problems and there is no one to talk to. These places also lack facilities for children, particularâ€" ly for 12 or 13 year olds. Women in Transition will do everything within its power to prevent the undesirable separation of mothers and their children by providing childâ€"care services, transportation to their schools and numerâ€" ous other services to help in bringing stability into their lives. The hostel will provide clean and comfortable accommodation at a reasonable cost to mothers and their children. It will assist them in contacting variâ€" ous social agencies when the need arises. Social workers will be available for counselling sessions, and service will be provided on a 24 hour basis, giving women a place of refuge at any time of the day or night. â€" â€" . Eileen Zarnke also made it clear that it is not the intent of the organization to break up a marâ€" riage, but rather the opposite. The staff at the hosâ€" te! will be on hand to lend support and assistance during a difficult time period. They would like to see men and women working together to resolve family difficulties, but they are also willing to accept the fact that many women will leave the hosâ€" tel as single parents. The staff hopes to see the hostel organized and ready for occupancy by late March or early April. They are depending heavily on community support because they believe the community has some reâ€" sponsibility in eliminating this behaviour. "There is no reason why Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo shouldn‘t be able to support a hostel." says Barb Zurawski. "If a city the size of Woodstock can supâ€" port one we should be able to. Woodstock. a city with a population of 30,000 people has successfully run a similar centre for the past three years, and in 1976, offered support to 2.310 women and children. In the last 18 months, the London Ontario Womâ€" en‘s Resource Centre has offered support to 1,222 women experiencing marital crisis. One third of these women were battered wives. _Women in Transition hopes to serve all women in the Waterloo Region including those in the rural areas. Although they would like to provide a closer Women in Transition By Terry James Women in Transition is a newly formed organization offering support to battered wives and children in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. Staff members are pictured here from left to right, Eileen Zarnke, Barb Samuel, Cathy HMuxtable and Barb Zurawski. Mary is 51 years old. She has hved in Cambridge for the last 10 years. Mary ({not her real name) is an abused wife. In her case, her husband beat her causing physical injury She is small and slight She speaks softly but clearly. This is her story. it is a true story. it is not over yet. ‘‘I‘ve been married to. my husband for nine years. He is at a recovery home for alcoholics. I am afraid of him getting out. Once you‘re an alcoholic, you‘re always one. You only need to take the cork off the bottle." ‘"‘I‘ve had him in court five times. The first time was for nonâ€"support. I think he felt that money was betâ€" ter for him to have for drink. He was working fairly steadâ€" ily, at a saw mill, and had worked â€" there for some time." All Mary‘s charges have All Mary‘s charges have been connected with nonâ€" support. Her husband gave her no money for grocemes, for the mortgage payment, for hydro bills, literally no money. service for these peoaple, they say that by calling the Waterloo Regional Police, the woman in a crisis sitâ€" uation is guaranteed immediate transportation to the centre. The staff is also rooting for the Cambridge Centre where individuals took the initiative to set up their own volunteer centre. The four women agree with the concept of having two centres in the Region. According to Constable John Chester of the Camâ€" bridge detachment of the Waterloo Regional Police, it is difficult to transport people back and forth, so a second centre eliminates much of this. Women in Transit is almost at the organizational stage of training volunteers who will .assist with office duties and work in the hostel. Everyone is inâ€" vited to offer their services, but Ms. Samuel says that the most valuable volunteers would be ‘"You would be amazed how much money went for drink. To him, 40 ounces of straight alcohol in a night, that was nothing ; on a weekâ€" end alone, 40 ounces of vodâ€" By Daphne Lavers for battered wives ka, % ounces of whiskey, 26 ounces of vodka again, a couple of bottles of wine and a case of beer."‘ The next charge was for nonâ€"support and a_ssau!t. ‘Pushing â€" and â€" shoving around, and bruising, that‘s what I call assault, when you can be bruised. He hit me on the arms. ‘"Sometimes if Iwere turned around, he‘d get me on the back."‘ Mary suffers from osteoâ€" arthritis, a degenerative form of arthritis which reâ€" quired surgery on one leg. "I was unbalanced (phyâ€" sically) because I‘d had an ostecotomy, â€" which â€" made one leg shorter than the other, and he knew this. He knew that if he could get me, it would unbalance me, and that if he could get me on the floor, I had a hard time getting up. He wouldn‘t help me up.‘‘ The last, most recent charge â€" was _ nonâ€"support and assault causing bodily harm. ‘‘The last time, I‘d had my hip replaced (the hip joint is replaced surgically with artificial _ material). I‘d only been home two weeks, from hospital. I was still on crutches, and a cane. "He came home and he ~ / Waterioo Chronigie, Wednesday, December 21, 1077 â€" Page 5 HELP FOR WIVES was really intoxicated. He caused a big problem smashâ€" ing things around, and I thought, well, all the times I‘ve been in court, someone suggested to me that the only thing to do was to get the alcohol out of the house. ‘"‘That was my intention, getting it out of the house. In the basement it‘s a ceâ€" ment floor. He came down and caught me. He grabbed hold of me and he took the beer case away from me, and as he took it away, it fell to the ground and smashâ€" ed to bits He pushed me down and I couldn‘t get up. ‘"He put a strangle hold on me. The marks were there when I went to the hospitai. I think in violence he was trying to kill me. "A young friend always called in to see if there was anything he could do to help things run smoothly. It was just God‘s help that needed to come in right away. He knocked, the door was open. He heard the commotion beâ€" cause he could hear the dog barking. This is why he came in, because he figured maybe I had fallen myself. When he came down, he only took one look at my husband and he knew what was wrong. "If my friend hadn‘t come women who have gone through the experience themâ€" selves. ~ The whole problem boils down to the question, Women and children â€" where do they go? Men have a refuge â€" their home and their job. Up until recently, women and children had nothing. The staff members know that this service is neâ€" cessary. Within four hours of opening the office a woman came to them for assistance. Until the hosâ€" tel is a reality, the best they can do is offer a symâ€" pathetic ear and direct the women to the proper social agencies. At the end of six months the Canada Works grant will run out. What will they do? They will reâ€"apply for assistance, but in the meantime, they hope a social agency will adopt them or that the community will take an interest and provide the funding. in, I think he would have killed me." For Mary, this was her second marriage. "I had no idea , before I married him that he had violent tendencies. To my estimation he was always a very gentle sort of perâ€" son. In a roundâ€"about way, my grandmother on . my father‘s side and his grandâ€" mother, were sisters, so in a roundâ€"about way we‘re sort of 52nd cousins. But knowing him, as I grew up as a child, I never realized he was that sort of person. I always found him very calm and very silent. Still waters run deep. I don‘t know if that‘s true but neverâ€"theâ€"less, he â€" always seemed a very sociable perâ€" son to talk to, but very bashâ€" ful." Mary required an operâ€" ation to correct the damage done during the last assault. "I tried talking to him, but he was very hard to talk to. He didn‘t want to ever sit down and talk about anyâ€" thing. The only thing he wanted to do was talk about all the past. He lived in hate, revenge, all the things people had done to him. _ _ ‘"He would say ‘You alâ€" ways have to have y our {(Continued on page 35)