Defending his travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries, President Trump has said the people he’s keeping out are dangerous criminals. But meeting Juma* — a 23-year-old Sudanese refugee who is making a new life here with her young son — paints a vastly different picture. The single mother arrived in Cleveland just before the election, after fleeing the violent marriage her own family sold her into in Kenya. She’s starting over with the help of Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services — and has a lot to say about who’s really being blocked by the president’s executive order. Juma recently sat down with Refinery29 to share her story.

You arrived in Cleveland in October: What was your life like before that, and how did you become a refugee?

“When I was 19, in my heart I wanted to finish up my education, but my uncle said I had to get married. One day, he told me that we were going to Nairobi for an eye check up, and that they were going to buy me eyeglasses. I thought that I would be happy, and I would be able to read again. But when we got to Nairobi, they took me to a man’s home and said, ‘This is your husband. If you don’t accept him, you have no way to get money to go back home.’ I said I will not accept him as my husband, so they left me there. The man had paid my uncle, but I didn’t know that. “He tied me down and beat me so he could rape me. There was a housemaid in that home, and one day when she brought food inside, I told her, ‘Please, you’re a girl like me, help me, I want to escape, I don’t like this man.’ So she gave me some money and took me to a bus station. I called my mom, but she said that since I escaped from my husband she doesn’t want to see my face again. Then I called my sister, but she said if I went to her home they would beat her. “I went to the police, but they were going to put my mom in prison for what she did to me. I told them she’s still my mom, even if she did this to me, she’s still my mom. They cannot put her in prison. The police called child protective services, and they took me to a boarding school for girls. “When I was in school, I felt my stomach get hard. I would take a rock sometimes and hit my stomach and wonder, what is this? They took me to a hospital where they found out I was pregnant. “From there, I went to a U.N. refugee camp, where I delivered my baby. They took care of me and provided for me. I’ve never seen my mom since then, or my sister. I’ve only spoken with my sister on the phone.” What was life like in the refugee camp?

“Life in the camp was hard. It was hard for us to eat sometimes, and it was hard to get money. They have food stamps in the refugee camp but it was not enough to survive on. I used to style hair, and women would give me something so I could buy sandals or other things, that’s how we survived. “My son used to get sick every day. I lost hope and thought he was going to die. I thought, God, will you to take away my child? I’ve suffered too much. I had nothing to give him, he was only breastfeeding. But since we came here, he’s been okay. He’s not sick anymore.”