WE ARE EQUAL BUT DIFFERENT

My life as a young girl and now as a woman, a wife and a mother has been a big classroom where learning has been taking place. I learnt that trying to copy other people and walk their path is very stressful. I have learnt that everyone has their own unique path with a different purpose to fulfil.

As a young girl, I grew up in a disadvantaged family of 8 siblings, 6 girls and 2 boys. I was the second born of my parents and the first two of us were girls. Our community didn't believe in educating girls' and they really ridiculed my father for having taken me to high school while other girls, who were my agemates, were being married off in exchange of resources for their families. Because I had a strong desire and zeal to study, I worked extra hard never to disappoint my father and I excelled in a very ordinary school with very limited learning resources. I passed with a good grade that gave me chance to join University and I became the first girl in my community to make it to the university.

I studied a course in BSC Botany and zoology and after graduation, I couldn't get employment immediately and I resorted to relocate to the village because I was unable to afford life in town. I expected that after graduation, I would get employed, get married and settle down as it has been the case with other friends I knew.  Mine was different. When life sent me back to the village, I decided to start by getting married and seek for job later. This looked very abnormal to people including my parents but, this is what I chose to do. My husband took me back to college and I took Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Biology and Chemistry) with an aim of becoming an high school teacher. Before I could start my teaching career, I got some job (Credit Officer) with an NGO and I  worked with disenfranchised women, helping them to start or grow their existing small businesses for economic empowerment. Here I interacted with several needs of the women and I realised that it is not just economic empowerment alone that these women needed.

As a credit officer, I found myself doing more than just economic empowerment to the disenfranchised women and I could feel a lot of peace having done that. I realized here is where my passion lied. I discovered that I was fashioned to serve the need of others around me. I decided to let go the teaching opportunities that knocked my door for service to the community. I was seriously criticized making this choice. When my contract with the NGO I worked for ended, I decided still to continue on my own and start small by offering what I had for the women of my community. I offered them skills and when I saw them \"rise up and walk\" I was encouraged to do more. I have impacted the lives of many disenfranchised women and their daughters and I feel happy because I am doing what I am wired and called for. When I feel exhausted, I celebrate, because that shows how much of my strength I have invested in others. My life is full of happy moments and I enjoy doing the work I do.

I conclude by saying, we are all equal but different. We were all created to fulfil a life purpose. Seek your heart, your inner knowing, to discover what you were made for and follow it heart, not others. When you follow others, you are pushing yourself into living their dreams which you don't have the capacity to bring to manifestation. When you follow your inner guidance, your heart, you have all that it takes to manoeuvre through and bring your vision to reality. 

This, is what I put down artistically in these teddy bears. I crocheted them and they all look alike but, each of them has unique feature that separates it from the rest. Though they look equal, they are different.