ESTHER'S DAIRY

 ESTHER'S DAIRY (part 1)
I am from a family of four; my dad, mum, elder brother and I. I grew up from a bad background with no love, no care, bad relationship coupled with a poor environment. My father has been a poor, shameless drunker who never cares about his family. After the birth of my brother, he changed from being a good, caring father, and stopped performing his responsibility as the  head of the family, although he is being influenced by his family on how he beats my mum all day. I have never for once thought of him being my biological father in my second world. My mom sells food stuff (provision food). Whenever he is drunk and requested for food or any other thing from my mum, whereby  my mom did not give him any response, he will mix up unnecessary things to what she sells or turn them to trash. 
Also, he will beat her up sometimes for unnecessary things. She had a lot of miscarriages about (3)three times due to the beating she received from him each blessed day. Even when my mum delivered me, he never thought of checking on my mum and I at the  hospital, neither did he care to  know about the bills. My mum and I stayed at the hospital for four (4) days before she could get the bills paid. At a point, she left me there to hawk cold tea and sachet water and borrowed money to bail her self out from the hospital. Getting home, he never thought of asking how she bailed herself and I out from the hospital and it was her money she used for my dedication, as his family had no contribution to offer. Even his mother came all the way from Ibadan  to Lagos without any money or gift to give for her son's child dedication. 
When she was about to leave, she took my brother without my mum's knowledge and used him as a housemaid without caring for him. After all of that, we were asked to pack out from the house we lived because we owed about 2 years and some months rent. We relocated to Isheri-osun, a suburb in Lagos in year 2003 into an uncompleted building. We never had peace of mind for one day. 
One fateful day, he came and was so drunk to the extent that he couldn't differentiate his legs from his head. He and my mum had a quarrel that night, and to my mum's surprise, he hit an electric iron on her head and she started bleeding. I was two(2)years and some months old when this happened and was completely helpless. It was a neighbour of ours  who kicked at our door before I and my mum could get help because he locked us up. At this time, my mum had fainted before they could rush her to a nearby hospital.
ESTHER'S DAIRY PART 2

Going  to school was a very tough one for my brother and I, as my mother could not afford to pay our school fees. Although, she desired to give us the best but she didn't have the wherewithal to do so. There were times we didn't have good food to eat, we just feed on anything we come by. Sometimes, my brother and I had to hawk wares for our mum, so that she can repay the debts she owed and have some cash to take care of us. It was really a tough journey for me while growing up and this I will never forget in a hurry.

However, a friend of mine who we both passed out from the same Secondary School introduced me to an empowerement programme at Bestspring Foundation, under the administration of Aunty Aramide Oikelome in year 2019, which brought about a major turning point in my life. I was trained on a skill acquisition programme which I benefited from and was gifted with a sum of money which enabled me to further develop my skills and create a source of income for myself. This also created an avenue for me to support my mum and make me financially independent.

In view of all my experiences, I desire to help children from dysfunctional and toxic family background like myself find help, safety and comfort from all their distress. I want to be a healing voice to these homes and support them in finding solutions to their numerous challenges. I want to see that every child have access to the basic needs of life and they grow up in a sane, sound and healthy home/environment.