“Ever since I can remember my father would physically abuse me. My father was a dictator and there was no way my mother could interfere. One time he was beating me so hard my mother tried to stop it. While my little brother was crying, she begged my father to stop hitting me. She said: ’‘if you keep hitting him, he is going to hate you one day!”. My father had an important job at the airport with many responsibilities and together with my mother he worked in a bar at night. They would be away a lot so my grandmother took care of my brother and I. Later on my grandmother got Alzheimer and she could no longer look after us. My father hired an acquaintance to be our babysitter. He would play games with me such as strip poker. He made me take off my clothes and he sexually abused me for 3 years. I never told my parents about the abuse. I think I was too ashamed, I felt it was my own fault. I was 18 when I confronted my parents with it, they thought I was lying. That’s when my brother interrupted the conversation and said: “Michel is right.” My dad asked him how he knew for sure. My brother replied: “Because it also happened to me..” (¼)