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Sofia Arteaga

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I’m taking part in the Plank every day in November Challenge to raise much needed funds for Women’s Aid.

Across Ireland one in three women live with suffocating abuse from someone they once loved; someone they once trusted. Every 5 minutes, someone reaches out to Women’s Aid for information and support.

Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate a lot or a little, anything helps. I hope you can support me by donating whatever you can. By supporting Women’s Aid you can change lives, and save lives.

Simply click the Donate button. All donations are processed securely. You can also share my page using Share options below. This is a great way to show your support.

Thanks so much for your support, it will bring hope, healing and the possibility of a brighter future for women and children.

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

Raised

€220

My Goal

€500

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My Achievements

Updated Profile Pic

Shared Page

Added a Blog Post

Created a Team

Self Donated

Increased Target

Received 5 Donations

Reached Fundraising Goal

My Updates

J -5!

Tuesday 27th Oct
Thank you so much to all that donated yet! 💪✨👌🤗🫶💜💜💜💜

Every donation could make a real difference to their 24/7 National Freephone Helpline and messaging services. If you can sponsor me or share my page, I’d really appreciate it.’


Across Ireland one in three women live with suffocating abuse from someone they once loved; someone they once trusted. Every 5 minutes, someone reaches out to Women’s Aid for information and support. You can help us to be there for the next woman who needs our support.


support is available 24 hours a day on the Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline: 1800 341 900.

17/10/26, 90 seconds + posted on socials

Saturday 17th Oct

The hardest part for me won't be doing the plank — it will be filming it and posting it every day! I'm trying to get used to it now because the challenge starts on November 1st.


But then I think about the women who face violence every single day. If they have to live that, can't I do something every day to try and raise funds?


Women's Aid does incredible work supporting women who are trapped in violent relationships and those who are recovering after getting out. If you can, please donate — every little bit helps.


https://fundraising.womensaid.ie/fundraisers/sofiaarteaga

My experience with partner's violence.

Saturday 10th Oct
It is shocking to think that I consider myself "lucky" to have experienced relatively little violence in my life. I wish we lived in a world where violence was never accepted, never tolerated, unconditionally condemned, and never perpetuated.

I have faced physical violence twice—and both times, it was from a partner I was trying to leave.

The first time was in 1996. I was 24, and after an interrogation that felt like an inquisition, my ex strangled me for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't breathe, and my throat remained sore for a long time afterwards. After that, he dragged me by my hair and repeatedly kicked me in the ribs. We were camping on a beach in Martinique. Some of our friends ran over and shouted, "Guys, stop!" That completely astonished me. I remember thinking: Guys?! Don’t you see I’m the one trapped underneath him?!
Eventually, they managed to separate us, and I fled to the far end of the beach. Later, I returned to the camp and managed to retrieve my ID (he had shredded my passport and, as I later found out, burned most of my clothes) along with a little money I had made from selling my car—money that was meant for a boat trip around South America a few days later. Instead, I rushed to the airport and took the first flight back to France (my ID card only allowed travel within French territory at the time).
What if I hadn’t had that bit of money hidden away? What then? Trapped on an island? Please donate so that Women's Aid can be there to help anyone facing that kind of nightmare.
For years, I thought I had processed that ordeal and left it firmly in the past. But recently, I have been working on sound for Shakespeare’s Othello—a play in which the protagonist strangles his wife to death. Reliving that scene twice a day for weeks on end brought all that buried trauma straight back to the surface. It was deeply distressing. Thankfully, the team has been fantastic. When I finally opened up to them about my past, they were incredibly supportive. Being able to talk about it openly, and knowing I wasn't carrying the emotional weight of the show alone, made an enormous difference.

The second time was in the 2010s. It was a turbulent, on-off relationship. That afternoon, after threatening (for the second time in our history) to hang himself, he punched me in the face. It was the first time anything like that had happened to me. It was shocking and completely surreal. Once again, I caught myself feeling "lucky" that it was just one blow—but what about the countless women and girls who endure this repeatedly, day in and day out?
I remember going to two friends afterwards to tell them what he had done, hoping they would confront him and make it clear that his behaviour was unacceptable. Instead, they told me they didn't want to get involved in "other people’s personal business." Incomprehensible.
It is horrifying and shameful that our society still tolerates this reality. I shouldn't have to feel "lucky"; on the contrary, no one should ever have to experience it at all.

Leats plank!

Tuesday 6th Oct

Thank you to my Sponsors

€32.06

Jimmy Wormall

Well done Sofia for sharing your story. Women are not safe and I recognize that as a privileged man. Why can’t people see the beauty and divinity in others rather than seeing the evil and darkness in themselves?

€30

Oisin Dutton

€28.06

Anonymous

Ánimo, y adelante.

€28.06

Conn

€28.06

Harper Cleves

Fair play!

€27.46

Rachel Dempsey

Well done Sofia for your fundraiser. I'm glad you got the support you needed when all that trauma resurfaced recently. Shocking that your story is not unusual in the slightest, so many women have experienced similar or different types of violence (sexual, emotional etc.)... We all need to collectively say enough is enough.

€22.80

Grainne Sheehan

€11.60

Niamh O’farrell-tyler

Good on you Sofia!

€11.60

Sofia Arteaga