Grieving mom urges action as Shine the Light anti-abuse campaign kicks off

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Fartumo Kusow says she’s been living with a chilling feeling ever since her daughter went missing and was later found dead.

The mother of five, whose eldest, Sahra Bulle, was killed in June 2023, told her daughter’s story at the launch of the London Abused Women’s Centre’s Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign launch Friday.

“She’s missed every day,” Kusow told the audience. “She loved fiercely and was loyal to a fault.”

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The 36-year-old Windsor woman’s body was found June 6, 2023 after she had been missing for 12 days. Her estranged husband of 18 years is charged with first-degree murder.

Kusow said she realized something was terribly wrong when, on the morning of May 27, she tried to check in with her daughter and realized the GPS and location data on her phone was disabled. Bulle was supposed to have spent the previous night at a Windsor emergency shelter for women fleeing abuse.

Kusow knew what her daughter was facing. Bulle would miss family get-togethers because she didn’t want others to see the physical injuries, her mother said.

For a long time, her daughter was reluctant to report the abuse, Kusow said. When Kusow brought up her daughter’s situation to police or health care workers, she said she was told that nothing could be done unless Bulle herself made the complaint.

“I want you to know that silence is not protection, it’s permission. Permission for the perpetrator to continue to do what they are doing,” Kusow said. “We can’t expect the heroes to come in, wearing capes, swooping down to save us. It’s all on us.”

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Bulle is one of two women highlighted by this year’s Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign, a grassroots domestic violence awareness movement that’s spread across Canada and to other countries.

The public is invited to a tree lighting in Victoria Park on Nov. 1 for the Shine the Light campaign, which is now in its 15th year. The mother of this year’s other campaign honouree, Samantha Lambert, will be speaking at the Nov. 1 event.

Landmarks across Canada and around the globe, including in the U.K. and Australia, will be lit in purple in November for the Shine the Light campaign. The London Abused Women’s Centre is also inviting the public to wear purple on Nov. 15 to boost public awareness about violence against women and girls.

“This year, we will be focusing on trafficking and femicide, things that are way too familiar to our city,” executive director Jennifer Dunn said Friday.

“London is a hub for trafficking. Where we’re positioned on the Highway 401 corridor is a perfect spot for those who want to traffic. We have also lost way too many women at the hands of men.”

The agency received nearly 11,000 service interactions in the last year, including more than 6,600 calls and more than 4,000 counselling and group counselling appointments, Dunn said.

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