Pam Colon: Dealing With Rape, Abuse and Homelessness

My name is Pam Colon and I am 45 years old.  When I was young, my father was physically abusive to both my mother and me for looking like her.  My mother was verbally abusive and I was dropped off at my grandparents' one bedroom apartment to live when mom did not want me.  She got a boyfriend when I was about 9, who was great when mom was around but when she wasn't I became a pinata. He would beat me where clothes covered it. He never used his hands he used the inside of a pool stick, belts and whatever else would leave welts. At 13, I was molested by a friend's daughter - this went on for months.  At 17, I went away for a weekend with a group of friends and some of their friends.  That was the weekend that I was raped at knife point for hours and they threatened my little brother if I told.