Her story of an arranged marriage at 17, battered till 31 when she finally left the union is quite touching.

Amara Blessing-Nwosu who is now a writer and relationship consultant, counselling young people on relationship and health issues, and managing an NGO, the Dorcas Generation Initiative, said she was made to go into early marriage for her father/ family considerations.

The marriage produced four children – two boys and two girls – but the marriage collapsed 5 years ago due to abuse.

The joy of it all is that she has found love again. She got married yesterday for the second time to Francis Van-Lare, her US-based fiance.

Recalling one of horrible days in her first marriage, Amara had explained that she started seeing hell just two days after the marriage.

“In fact my pains started two days after the wedding. While the marriage lasted, there was nothing like happiness. I was in the marriage for 13 years 10 months. I don’t like remembering those years because it was years of miseries and pains. I was dying inside and people were seeing just the wealth, the beautiful cars, the holidays abroad, the treats and all that. It was only my very close friend, who knew what I was going through, but I couldn’t tell anybody because of my kind of upbringing. I was brought up to keep my home and was committed to just doing that.”

She also narrated how she faired after separation, “between 2008 and 2009, I was not my self. With all the sponsored negative publications and everything, I had to withdraw from public engagements. But my mentor, Senator Babafemi Ojodu, encouraged me to start writing then. He also called me and say, this your thing about widows why don’t you make it official since you have passion for this. That is how the Dorcas Generation started.”

Now she is happily married again and ready to make the best of the second chance marriage had offered her.