Beverley Walters escaping the ghosts of her dark past to living a life of purpose – Pt 1

Today, Beverly Walters is living her best life as a Christian life coach and motivational speaker. She has come a long way from the troubled, abused child who grew up navigating her way around many roadblocks.

Thanks to life coach Crystal Daye, Walters finally has the courage to look back into her past, open up old wounds, and lay the ghosts to rest.

In a one-on-one with Family & Religion, she spoke about the years of torment she endured, which started when she was only six years old.

Prior to her ordeal, Walters recalled being a very smart and jovial child, one that any parent would be proud of.

“However, I started to experience trauma very early that caused me to regret the very day I was born. Three different men in my community were having sexual intercourse with me, one of whom was a family member,” she revealed. Walters said that she could not tell anybody about the abuse because one of her abusers threatened to kill her if she did.

Sexually abused

For nine years, she carried the burden of being sexually abused, and out of fear, never told anyone.

By that time, Walters said that her life had completely deteriorated, but not before the abusive family member was eventually caught in the very act one day. That made her feel that she would finally get justice, but that was not to be.

“I thought that since he was caught, my nightmare would be over, but was I disappointed and dismayed when I was told that I would not be ‘put before’ my perpetrator since he was the sole bread winner for the family,” she said. Walters said that her sense of betrayal was palpable when she considered that the well-being of a 14-year-old child was not as important as the income her perpetrator provided for the family.

That episode caused her to move from one family’s house to the next. People in the community thought she was rebellious and some even concluded that she was mad.

“I was called ‘Mad Bev’. They started to neglect me. Feeling unloved and misunderstood, I was left with no choice but to run away from home,” she shared.

Walters said that she went in search of a friend who advised her to go back home. However, she refused and instead chose to sleep on the streets at nights, hoping someone would reach out to her as she just wanted to be heard and understood.

“I felt lost as if I was in a world all by myself. I didn’t know what love felt like, and because of all the trauma I suffered, I grew up an unhappy child. I started to perform poorly in school. My grades dropped. I was wetting my bed and became aggressive and abusive towards my peers and siblings,” she shared.

Unable to bear the hunger, and fearful that she might suffer even more harm, Walters decided to go back home. However, her abuser did not want her back there because she had exposed him. This caused her guardian to rent a room for her and took her father to court for child support to pay for it.

It was another unstable period in Walter’s life as one month, her guardian refused to pay the rent. Her father paid child support when he felt like it, and in between, she had to go from one family member’s house to another to beg for food.

After her guardian stopped paying the rent for an extended period, she was evicted, which resulted in her moving to an old, abandoned building until one of her cousins offered to help her.

She stayed with the cousin until she got accepted into the National Youth Service programme, where her life began to change.

However, that, too, had its challenges because initially, her application was rejected because she did not have the required subjects to take part in the programme. Walters was determined to make the grade, and so she tried until she was finally accepted.

“During the training at camp, I tried to fit in, but nightmares and reflections paralysed me. I couldn’t sleep at nights. I was so afraid to close my eyes and drift off to sleep. This kept happening until a resident nurse on camp took notice of my behaviour. She tried to reach out to me, but I was too afraid to talk to her, so the officers of the programme recommended that I see a psychologist for six months,” she said.

The psychologist diagnosed her with mental imbalance and prescribed medication for her. She said that she refused to take them because she didn’t believe a psychologist who worked at Bellevue should prescribe anything for her, and she knew she wasn’t mad.

Next week: After being trafficked and forced into prostitution and lesbianism, Walters finally found her way to God.

familyandreligion@gleanerjm.com