Growing up in Yemen, she said, young girls didn’t have much say in the matter, especially if they came from poor families.

She received little support from her family, except from one of her brothers who did what he could to help her even though they had very little.

“He gave me money. He gave me something,” Yusra, 50, told FMT on the sidelines of a United Nations event on gender-based violence against refugees in Malaysia.

She thought that life as a married woman would be better as she would escape from her family and perhaps gain enough freedom to pursue an education.

She also thought that getting married would earn her approval from her family since they would receive a dowry.

But her marriage turned out to be just another nightmare. From the very beginning, she said, her husband told her that he owned her since he had paid her dowry.

“I was told that I couldn’t see anyone or go anywhere, and no one could visit me.”

She added that her husband used to lock her up in a room from morning until night. He also beat and raped her.

“It gives me pain whenever I think about it,” she said briefly.

As a young girl, Yusra had always wanted to be a famous hairdresser. When she grew older, she worked at a salon despite the disapproval from her community.

One of her brothers would even beat her whenever she went to work.

“People told him, ‘Your sister is not good, she goes to a salon. How can you allow her to do this?'” she said.

As years passed, the violence in Yemen escalated and Yusra finally decided to sell all of her gold jewellery for a plane ticket to Malaysia.

“Besides the government killing people, there were a lot of problems in my family and with my husband.

“In Yemen, they treat women like they are nothing, like animals. They don’t get to do anything, and sometimes they are sexually abused or raped as well.”

When she arrived in Malaysia with her son four years ago, she found it difficult to survive at first. She took any job she could find, from cleaning houses to cutting hair at salons.

But she was happy to find support from the Yemeni community in Malaysia. She also made friends who helped her find a place to stay and work to do.

Yusra now operates from home as a hairdresser. Some of her customers pay up to RM500 for her services, but most days, it is still hard going.

However, she is glad that she no longer depends on others for money.

“I don’t want to ask anyone for money,” she said, adding that she still harbours her old dream of opening a proper salon one day.

Her son is now 11 years old. He initially went to a refugee community school but now attends a government school thanks to aid from her embassy.

“I’m happy here,” Yusra said. “I love being here because my son and I feel safe in Malaysia.”