Break the Silence, Build a Future

Fartumo Kusow
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Personal Journals
  • Updated Daily

"Break The Silence and Build a Future" is a podcast dedicated to amplifying the voices of survivors and advocates while shedding light on the pervasive issue of gender-based violence. Join us on a journey where survivors find strength in sharing their stories, and experts offer profound insights into this critical societal issue.We delve into personal narratives, exploring the lived experiences of individuals who've confronted gender-based violence head-on. Moreover, our conversations with experts uncover actionable solutions and strategies, illuminating the path toward lasting change.

  1. 3d ago

    When Silence Becomes a System

    Gender-based violence rarely starts with an incident report. It starts long before, in the silences and institutional practices that come first — the hiring, the training, the crisis-response protocols that quietly teach survivors that disclosure isn't safe. In this episode, host Fartumo Kusow sits down with Dr. Pamela J. Pine, founder of Stop the Silence® and a 25+ year veteran of work at the intersection of childhood trauma and gender-based violence, to unpack how even well-intentioned systems can fail the people they're meant to protect. They talk about recognizing early warning signs long before a crisis point, how these dynamics compound for immigrant, refugee, Indigenous, Black, and disabled women, and Dr. Pine's self-assessment tool for organizations — ending with one concrete, personal action step listeners can commit to in the next 30 days. Content note: this episode discusses gender-based violence, childhood trauma, and institutional response. Listener discretion is advised. In this episode: — What it means for silence to become something an institution runs on, not just something a person carries — How to recognize early behavioral and situational signs of GBV, even if you're not a clinician — Why marginalized women face compounding barriers — and why one-size-fits-all responses fail them — A self-assessment any team or organization can use to spot where their own practices may be silencing survivors — One 30-day action step to walk away with Need support? Assaulted Women's Helpline (Ontario, 24/7, 200+ languages): 1-866-863-0511. Fem'aide (French-language support): 1-877-336-2433. Find a shelter near you: sheltersafe.ca Join us October 3, 2026 for the Walk to End Silence at Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre, Windsor — a peer-to-peer walk in memory of Sahra Bulle. sahrabullefoundation.ca/walk-to-end-silence Break the Silence, Build a Future is a production of the Sahra Bulle Foundation, hosted by founder Fartumo Kusow. sahrabullefoundation.ca #SahraBulleFoundation #EndGBV #GenderBasedViolence #StopTheSilence #IAmSahraBulle

  2. Sep 2

    Seven Days to Forever

    She was reported missing on a Tuesday and was found the following Tuesday. In between were seven days that stretched into forever for one family and a police investigation racing against a clock no one could see. In this episode of Eight Minutes to Silence, host Fartumo Kusow walks through how investigators actually found her daughter, Sahra: a shelter's 24-hour missing-person protocol, a detective's educated guess about a phone number that cracked the case open, and the discovery of personal items including a bright pink phone case. That turned a missing-persons file into a homicide investigation. This is a story about the unglamorous, relentless work of searching, and about a mother doing everything she could with what she had while a hundred officers did the same, in a room she couldn't see. This episode continues the trial narrative of Season 3, telling the story of Sahra Bulle's murder case through the people who lived it and investigated it. Content note: this episode discusses a missing-persons investigation and gender-based violence. It does not describe forensic or medical findings in detail. That's addressed with care in a later episode. Listener discretion is advised. In this episode: — The 24-hour window that started the search — How a phone record and an Uber trace led police to a motel — The personal items that changed the direction of the investigation — What it means when a system works exactly as it should — and still can't undo what's already happened Need support? Assaulted Women's Helpline (Ontario, 24/7, 200+ languages): 1-866-863-0511. Fem'aide (French-language support): 1-877-336-2433. Find a shelter near you: sheltersafe.ca Join us October 3, 2026 for the Walk to End Silence at Mackenzie Hall, Windsor — a peer-to-peer walk in memory of Sahra Bulle. sahrabullefoundation.ca/giving Break the Silence, Build a Future is a production of the Sahra Bulle Foundation, hosted by founder Fartumo Kusow. sahrabullefoundation.ca #SahraBulleFoundation #IAmSahraBulle #EndGBV #GenderBasedViolence #MissingPersons #TrueCrimePodcast #Windsor #ActNotJustRemember

  3. Aug 26

    Four Minutes at the Door

    For four minutes: Content note: this episode discusses witness testimony related to gender-based violence and a homicide trial. It does not include graphic detail. Listener discretion is advised. In this episode: — The four minutes outside Room 27, and what the surveillance video showsa motel manager stood outside a locked door — knocking, listening, pressing his face to the glass — while the only answer he got was "one minute, give me one minute." In this episode of Eight Minutes to Silence, host Fartumo Kusow walks through courtroom testimony from that night at the Bestway Motel: what the manager heard and didn't hear, the master key that stayed in his pocket, and the striking contrast between his account of the exchange at the door and what another witness swears she heard. It's a story about what a bystander actually has to work with in the moment that matters most — and how much can turn on four minutes. This episode continues the trial narrative thread of Season 3, telling the story of Sahra Bulle's murder trial in the words of the people who testified. — Two witnesses, two very different accounts of the same conversation — A tense cross-examination, and what it did and didn't resolve — What this moment asks of anyone standing where he stood Need support? Assaulted Women's Helpline (Ontario, 24/7, 200+ languages): 1-866-863-0511. Fem'aide (French-language support): 1-877-336-2433. Find a shelter near you: sheltersafe.ca Join us October 3, 2026 for the Walk to End Silence at Mackenzie Hall, Windsor — a peer-to-peer walk in memory of Sahra Bulle. sahrabullefoundation.ca/giving Break the Silence, Build a Future is a production of the Sahra Bulle Foundation, hosted by founder Fartumo Kusow. sahrabullefoundation.ca #SahraBulleFoundation #IAmSahraBulle #EndGBV #GenderBasedViolence #SilenceIsNotProtection #Windsor #ActNotJustRemember

  4. Aug 12

    The Sound Through the Wall That Changed a Courtroom

    A stranger’s decision to speak up from a motel room in Windsor may be the difference between silence and survival. In this episode, host Fartumo Kusow examines what happens when a sound through the wall feels wrong—and whether hesitation can become a moral turning point.A married couple from the UK checks into room 22 of the Best Way Motel, directly below room 27, where Sahra is staying. In the middle of the night, the wife hears banging and a soft plea: “Stop it, you’re hurting me.” What follows is an hour of uncertainty, a walk to the front desk, and testimony that later becomes part of a Canadian trial. You’ll hear how two ordinary witnesses became central to the case, why their memories did not match perfectly, and how the motel manager’s response shaped what happened next. This episode explores the fragile space between hearing and acting, and the quiet courage it takes to trust your own alarm.If you’ve ever wondered when to speak up, call for help, or trust that uneasy feeling that something is not right, this episode will stay with you.

  5. Aug 5

    Strategic Silence and the Most Dangerous Moment

    Content note: This episode discusses domestic and gender-based violence. Listener discretion advised. Leaving an abusive relationship isn't a single decision — it's a series of calculated, survival-driven choices. In this episode of Eight Minutes to Silence, host Fartumo Kusow sits down with Sofi Khan to unpack what researchers and advocates call "strategic silence" — the deliberate quiet survivors adopt not out of fear alone, but as a conscious safety strategy during the most dangerous moment of an abusive relationship: the moment of leaving. Together, they explore why silence is so often misread as compliance, what "the most dangerous moment" actually means for survivors and the people trying to help them, and what a real roadmap toward safety can look like. Eight Minutes to Silence is Season 3 of Break the Silence, Build a Future, a production of the Sahra Bulle Foundation — a Windsor, Ontario registered not-for-profit corporation working to end gender-based violence through education, storytelling, and community action. Founded in memory of Sahra Bulle, the Foundation turns grief into a living force for change through workshops, an annual conference, community walks, and public-awareness campaigns. 🔗 Full episode notes, transcripts, and ways to support: https://www.sahrabullefoundation.ca/podcast 💜 Join our Circle of Giving campaign before August 14: https://www.sahrabullefoundation.ca/giving 📍 #IAmSahraBulle Conference — November 26, 2026, Windsor, ON — free to attend Turning silence into collective power. #SahraBulleFoundation #IAmSahraBulle #EightMinutesToSilence #BreakTheSilenceBuildAFuture #EndGBV #GenderBasedViolence #SilenceIsNotProtection #ActNotJustRemember #DomesticViolenceAwareness #DVAwareness #SurvivorStories #IPVAwareness #PodcastRecommendations #WomensSafety #TraumaInformed #Windsor #WindsorOntario #WindsorEssex

  6. Jul 29

    Introducing Sahra

    Before the trial. Before the headlines. This is Sahra. In Episode 2 of Eight Minutes to Silence, Fartumo Kusow introduces her daughter Sahra as the child she loved, the memories, the moments, the life that existed before the world only knew her story through loss. This episode walks through the timeline of the day Sahra disappeared, honouring who she was before turning toward what the trial would later reveal. This is a season about breaking silence and building a future. Sahra's story is where it begins. 🎧 Listen to Break the Silence, Build a Future https://www.sahrabullefoundation.ca/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. 💜 Learn more or support our work at: sahrabullefoundation.ca #SahraBulleFoundation #IAmSahraBulle #EndGBV #GenderBasedViolence #SilenceIsNotProtection #Windsor #ActNotJustRemember #BreakTheSilenceBuildAFuture #EightMinutesToSilence

  7. Jul 22

    What I Expected. What It Was. What It Became.

    I thought I knew what a trial would look like. Television prepares you for a few dramatic days and clear answers — it does not prepare you for three and a half weeks of testimony, evidence entered page by page, and a level of care I didn't expect. In this season opener, I walk you through what it actually meant to sit through my daughter Sahra's trial: the moment I was asked to give my own blood so the forensic lab could identify her remains, being called as the very first witness, and the unexpected gratitude I felt on the day the man responsible turned himself in. This is where the Season begins, not with the courtroom details themselves, but with what it cost me just to walk into that room. Break the Silence, Build a Future: "Eight Minutes to Silence." New episodes every Wednesday through December 2nd. Turning silence into collective power. sahrabullefoundation.ca | #SahraBulleFoundation #EndGBV #SilenceIsNotProtection trial testimony, references to a death investigation

  8. Trailer

    Eight Minutes to Silence Trailer

    What could you do with eight minutes? Fold a load of laundry. Brew a pot of coffee. Sit through the previews before a movie starts. It's nothing. A time you don't even notice passing. But eight minutes of silence isn't nothing. It's a phone ringing with no one answering. A door someone almost knocked on. Every second someone could have acted, and didn't. Eight minutes is how long it took to alter my family's life forever. This season, host Fartumo Kusow tells the full story of her daughter Sahra's trial, the testimony, the evidence, the exact moment the system had a chance, and what happened instead. Ten episodes, released weekly, walk through the courtroom day by day: what was said, what was missed, and what silence actually costs. Break the Silence, Build a Future. This Season begins July 22, 2026. New episodes every Wednesday through December 2. Turning silence into collective power. sahrabullefoundation.ca | #SahraBulleFoundation #EndGBV #SilenceIsNotProtection

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About

"Break The Silence and Build a Future" is a podcast dedicated to amplifying the voices of survivors and advocates while shedding light on the pervasive issue of gender-based violence. Join us on a journey where survivors find strength in sharing their stories, and experts offer profound insights into this critical societal issue.We delve into personal narratives, exploring the lived experiences of individuals who've confronted gender-based violence head-on. Moreover, our conversations with experts uncover actionable solutions and strategies, illuminating the path toward lasting change.

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