Pachara Yamazaki

Twelve years ago, Pachara Yamazaki moved from Thailand to Japan, where she met and married a Japanese man and had three children. It was a happy marriage until her husband began drinking excessively, and turned abusive and violent.

In the face of escalating violence, Pachara left him and she and her children moved into HELP, a local domestic violence shelter. Pachara slowly pulled her life together, and though she spoke limited Japanese, found a part-time job as a waitress.

Eventually she was able to move out of the shelter and into a home of her own. In the spirit of helping other women, Pachara volunteers at HELP, one of only a few hundred domestic violence shelters in Japan. “I want to do something to repay the people who helped me when I needed it,” she explains.

Today, she has escaped poverty and abuse, is pursuing a career in nursing, and is one step closer to living her dream.