When we got married I was very short tempered, I was always thinking that I was right, and no one could tell me anything.

I started drinking because of the friends that I had at that time and it became a habit. If I didn’t drink, I couldn’t sleep. I used to drink during the night and I used to wake up with stomach problems.

In our marriage, we were always arguing. I used to drink to try to forget but I couldn’t really forget about it, and when you are drunk you loose control. I became violent and I used to fight with the whole family.

Ravineeta: I came from a family that was always loving and caring for each other. When I met Ronald, and we decided to get married I was nervous, not really secure of it because drinking was a habit for him. But I thought that after getting married he would change. In my understanding, he was doing this because he didn’t have anyone to talk to, and after the marriage things would change.

They didn’t. It became worse, he used to come home everyday drunk and I started to be scared of him because I didn’t know what would happen next.

He used to go out with his friends and not tell me where he had been, so I started to become mad at him.

I used to wait for him to come home and he wouldn’t tell me were he was, he didn’t want to listen to any advice from his family.

One night he was really violent, worse than the other nights, and I got so scared. He was really drunk. He started being violent with his mum, so I put myself between them. She forced herself out of the house and he pushed me away.

My mother-in-law called my dad for him to try to talk to Ronald because he was out of control. He got in the car and he drove away, and I went to my parents’ house.

Ronald: On that time my wife was working during the night while I was working during the day. That was bothering me and on that night I was very drunk and got really violent at her.

After this, I came to the Church and I learned that I had to do something about the situation that I was living because there are times when just praying isn’t enough; you have to take action. During a night vigil in the Church I decided to change. I said to myself, ‘tomorrow I’m not going to drink anymore’. I made a vow with God.

She was seeing it and we started to come to the Church together. I learned that I had to put God first in my life, and that’s when things started to change.

We did the Chain of Prayer on Fridays, and came to Church on Sundays in the morning. After that I didn’t drink anymore, everything changed. You can pray a lot but the only way to change is when you do something about it.

Ravineeta: Now I respect him a lot. I never thought that things could be so good between us. He is not violent anymore; he is a new man. And I’m the happiest woman in the world. God gave us a new life!

Ronald & Ravineeta Prasad