Rung, 19, was working as a dental assistant at a private clinic in Samut Prakan province around the time she began seeing her boyfriend.
He seemed nice to her in the beginning but later became extremely jealous and frequently picked fights with her.
Quarrels over his accusations that she was seeing someone else behind his back usually ended up with her being physically assaulted, and eventually led her to decide to leave him.
After she had left the house they shared, however, she realised she had forgotten some important documents.
However, while retrieving her documents, she tried telling her boyfriend that she wanted to break up with him -- a decision she now regrets.
The news she broke only enraged him and ended up in a fresh physical assault. This time he also raped her.
After the incident, she fled to Chon Buri to get away from him and deal with the stress brought on by this abusive relationship and rape. Unfortunately, her stress was only exacerbated when she discovered she was now pregnant.
She tried to find a new job but her applications were rejected as soon as potential employers learned she was pregnant.
"I couldn't think of any way out of my troubled life. I didn't know who to turn to for help," she said, recalling her nightmare back then.
But Rung's fortunes changed when her older sister gave her some advice about an emergency home for pregnant women in Don Muang district.
After receiving help and support from the facility, she later gave birth to a daughter who is two years old now and means the world to her.
When the Bangkok Post met Rung she, along with six other women taking refuge at the Don Muang emergency home, was performing in a play titled Can Someone Help Me With This Pain?
The performance was an activity aimed at encouraging domestic violence victims to express themselves and their emotions through performing arts.
The activity was jointly organised by the Don Muang emergency home and the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women.
Rung admitted that she wasn't confident at all about being in the play in the beginning. But as soon as she heard the first big round of applause, she gained confidence in what she was doing.
She said she was now very proud that the production might lead to an improvement in support and help for domestic violence victims.
The play reflects these women's ordeals, including their negative experiences with the judicial process and police who refused to take their claims of abuse seriously.
It also portrayed how some police view domestic violence as a family affair that should be settled informally by those involved.
The play tells the story of a woman who was rejected by a hospital when she requested a physical check-up to gather evidence of the physical violence used against her.
Sasasolos Jitrawanichakul, head of the Performing Arts Communication programme at the College of Communication Arts, Rangsit University, said she began organising workshops last year at the Don Muang emergency home.
"Only those who have undergone sufficient counselling are allowed to be a part of the performances," she said.
In each workshop, she said, participants are trained how to act in a play as a way of expressing their feelings and conveying the things they wish could be made better for victims of domestic violence.
"The merit of performing arts is that the women can gain self-esteem by acting out situations, especially when their performances draws applause," she said.
Amata Buasurin, a performing arts student at Rangsit University who is involved in the provision of workshops for women at the home, said she has heard numerous heartbreaking stories from these women.
"I strongly believe that everyone has the right to live a life without violence and that everyone should have respect for one another," she said.
Aside from being an activity for helping domestic violence women work through their traumas, the plays also serve as a forum for these women to summarise what they think are obstacles to authorities effectively cracking down on the problem.
The seven performers have taken a proposal to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, asking for the strict enforcement of the laws concerned and an improvement in access to the Justice Fund which helps victims move on with their lives.
They also suggested that the ministry consider putting in place mechanisms to ensure support and help for domestic violence victims at the local level.
"We do hope all these proposals will lead to changes for the better," said A, one of the seven performers who only wanted to be identified by her nickname.
"Many of us have had similar bad experiences with law enforcement officials. The police simply regarded the violence we reported as a minor family problem and refused to accept our complaints [against the violent partners]," said A.
The proposals were submitted to the ministry through Lertpanya Buranabandit, director-general of Department of Women's Affairs and Family Development.
At this stage, he said, anyone who experiences domestic violence, or witnesses an incident of it, is encouraged to make a call to the ministry's 1300 hotline to report it. Officials will then provide assistance for victims starting with filing a complaint with police and undergoing a physical check-up.
The hotline is free for callers in the country and ones living overseas, he said.
He did, however, admit that a DNA-based physical check-up is currently available only at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok and costs 4,000 baht.
"The hotline has been made available for Thai women living overseas as well because there are many Thai women who emigrate with foreign husbands and who also suffer from domestic violence", he said.
There may be some delays for callers from overseas calling the 1300 hotline as currently these calls go straight through to an automated service which leads to a callback from an official, he said.
The ministry is now planning to request permission from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) for hotline officials to be able to answer overseas calls immediately so that they can provide counselling and help without the need to make a return call.
Pol Col Chutima Phanthu, who works in the social work section at Police General Hospital, said there is a need for professionals who are willing to listen to victims and offer them as much assistance as possible, especially when it comes to DNA sample collecting which can be a traumatic process in itself.
"The system should be further developed to ensure equal access for women wherever they live in Thailand," Pol Col Chutima said.
"One way of dealing with domestic violence is to empower former victims who have recovered from the consequences of their ordeals to help others and lead a concerted fight for justice for all victims," said Suphensri Phungkhoksung, director of the Social Equality Promotion Foundation.
