The Wombat That Learnt To Be Very Self Reliant and Resilient.

Wollie the wombat was from a large family of nine baby wombats. He was one of two males in the pack he had an older brother. Some other animals would call him a mum’s boy but that was because he was the youngest of all the wombats in the family. The day before his older brother wombat died hit by a passing car when he ran across the road to a water hole. They were very close as brother wombats. Before that they had a happy life living with their family and the tragedy happened to them. Wollie was only seven years old at the time. He learnt through his life to become very strong to push through obstacles in his life. To become self reliant on himself and resilient to problems he faced.

After this tragedy happened the family of wombats changed from being a happy family to being very sad and not wanting to be in their home any more. It bought too many sad memories to them. They had to come to terms with the big loss they had. So they moved out west to another country town. Where one of the older sisters wombats lived right out west in Wongan.

In the new house Wollie the wombat was very lonely he had no new friends to play with and he felt isolated and alone. This was also at a time when he was becoming an adult male Wombat. He was going through puberty and learning about what being a male was about. So things were very tough for Wollie. Life was very different than from his earlier life. He lost his best friend and this made him feel very sad inside.

Slowly he accepted his new home and got new animal friends and things were ok. However it wasn’t long before he met a Wolf. This Wolf took the little animals to school and befriended him. Telling him to walk next to him. That he would take care of him of him protect and keep him safe. So Wollie did this he thought that the Wolf was a safe Wolf and was looking after him. He was very lonely and looking for a friend. However what the wolf said all turned out to all be a lie. The wolf had other plans for him he even promised that he would teach him how to grow into a strong clever wombat. But what happened was that he sexually abused him. He threatened and frightened him so that he would not tell anyone about what happened to him. He also made him feel that everything was his fault that he was having sex with an adult wolf. For some time this wolf ruled his life. He was too afraid to tell anyone what was happening to him. He did not know how to get out of the situation that he was in. This wolf was a pillar of the community, he was respected and trusted by others also looked up to and high up in the community. Wollie felt that no one would believe him and that he could not get out of the situation that he was in. The abuse stopped when he felt big enough and strong enough to stop his abuser from doing anything else to him and he told him “you try doing that to me again and I will bury you in the backyard”

At twenty five he got married to the love of his life he had known her for a couple of years. It was the first time he had been away from home and his sisters and mum. He asked his girl friend wombat to marry him on bended knees. Their relationship was good for eight years. He had a daughter then he had a son several years latter. His dad died when he was eighty five then his wife’s mum died.

One of the things that did help Wollie was playing sport he loved his sport. He lived in or near the Blue Mountains all of his adult life. He had to invite the wolf to his daughters christening because he was a family friend and it would be strange if he did not. Then their would be lots of questions asked by all. The Wolf was also invited to his fiftieth birthday party. Wollie said to the wolf “Lay one hand on my son and no one will ever find your body ever again”.

After this was when everything fell apart and depression started. he then lost all the jobs he did for the other wombats as could not work as he was too depressed. He once told a local wombat elder about the sexual abuse who then told Wollie’s wife. Once his wife found out that was the end of their marriage things went down hill from there. She blamed Wollie for the abuse he went through. She also said that he was dirty and started to mentally, emotionally and physically abused him. Wollie had no choice but to leave the marriage.

He tried to take his life several times but what stopped him was thinking about the animals who would find his body. How his death would affect and impact their life. He did not want to cause them distress the local animal authorities who looked after the forest. He felt useless, had low self esteem, felt not worthy of a grain of sand and put on weight. He also lost his social friends so he was alone in the world again. He had no connection with his wife and family for four years and also did not get to see his grandchildren. It was a sad time in his life for him.

A family animal friend told him about a case that was on the forest news that was being talked about. It was from the same area that he was abused in. So he contacted the authorities talking about it. Then he found our it was the same Wolf that had abused him. He was told that he was victim number ten and to come in to tell his story. It went to animal court and the wolf pleaded guilty and was convicted and went to Jail for twenty years, he will die in Jail. Wollie made a victim impact statement in this he said “This sexual abuse needs to stop because it is life changing and I have grandchildren. I need to protect them from this type of abuse”. Wollie was offered an apology from the elders of the forest even though it was done from the heart and genuine. He would not accept this because the elders are still covering up the abuse that went on. Until this is changed I will not accept their apology. The whole support needs to be fixed. Not just an apology to victims they know about. As their are hundreds of other victims out their and need to make sure this does not ever happen again to any animal. The support needs to be completely changed and abuse not covered up or hidden.

Its been a new experience to do things on my own and to take my own power back. To live my life how I want it. Also to make my own decisions in life and to have my own home, job, and friends. That’s new for me because my wife wombat controlled everything for me. I never thought that I would be happy again. But I am starting to find that its not easy all the time their is lots of abuse to work through. But what I have found from my journey is that you have to do the hard work to come out the other end a better wombat and healed. So I am putting in the hard work pushing through till I get to the other side and working on my issues of abuse. So that I can one day be in a healthy happy relationship with another wombat as he deserved to be. I’ve got more work to do on me I know that but I am on my way. Sometimes you have more learning to do on your journey. If you fail it just means you have more work to do that’s all cause when you are ready then nothing can get in your way. But my healing journey has started and their is light at the end of the tunnel. The only way to the other side is to work through the feelings, the issues and the abuse but that’s ok I need to do this for me. Another thing that is important is that you acknowledge that sexual abuse is not your fault. You are responsible for your healing but the abuser is responsible for the abuse not you ever. But you are worthy of valuing and healing you always and doing the hard work is worth it. You have to create your journey and it will be good if you keep working at it and on your issues. Also it is not just you that has been abused but there are many, many other victims out their of sexual abuse. We are all going through our own journey and healing as we go making the animal world a better place to live.

Moral: Work on your recovery of sexual abuse because you are worth it!