Philile Mndzebele grew up in Swaziland, a small country in southern Africa. She got married there and had two children. Life was good at first, but after a while, her husband started to abuse her. And the abuse kept escalating. 

As part of our StoryCorps series, Mndzebele talked with her mentor, a man named Marlin Exton. She explained how she came to be in Chicago, after fleeing her country when her family life became unsafe.

They were recorded through a partnership between StoryCorps Chicago and the Cara Program.

StoryCorps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to share, record and preserve their stories. These excerpts, edited by WBEZ, present some of our favorites from the current visit, as well as from previous trips.