Too many challenges retarded my childhood education.

My dad and mum separated one year after I was born. I lived with my mum for some years, within these years, I lived in many different homes because my mother was busy with her business. Besides she was too wild. Thus I was always running away from home each time I do something wrong. Whenever she beats me, she will ask me to kneel by her bedside till morning while she sleeps. She will even put pepper in my eyes and my vagina. I often escaped to my maternal aunt who was more loving and kind to me. She advised me to look for my father, so that he will send me to school. I had already passed school going age.  My mother attacked my aunt for keeping me. Tension mounted between them. I escaped to my grandfather who was a pastor. He was too busy with his job, and gave me to one mother in his church. I lived happily with her and her children, until when her nephew came to live with us. Many of us were sleeping on the bed with him. He would always gluey want to have sex with me at night. I could not tell anyone for fear that he will beat me. I resorted to sit on a stool while leaning on the wall till morning. I could not bear the pain of sleeping while sitting. I escaped back to my grandfather. He gave me to another mother where I lived happily with her. I started my primary school.

My mother came for me and was heartbroken to go with her. I was afraid of her beatings and that she would want me to be selling in the bar instead of going to school.  This second mother advised me to go school in the city.

I went with her and instead of going to school I was selling in the snack bar. Within this period, I got to know my dad through his visitation and I wanted to go and live with him believing he will send me to school.

Again I escaped and met a bus driver who knew my dad. I deceived him that my mum said, he should take me to my father unfortunately he took me to my mother. People in the bar advised my mum to send me to my father who had a wife and she did it out of the pressure mounted on her. I lived happily with my dad especially as I was sent to school. While in school my classmates were laughing at me for being the “mother” of the class. I reported to my step mother who advised me not to worry about it but to focus on my education which will give me a bright future. She went to my school and asked the teacher to talk with the pupils to stop laughing at me. She encouraged my dad to look for me a home teacher. This made me to excel in class as I was no longer shy nor ashamed.

I completed primary education and went back to my biological mother to attend college against my wish and stepmothers. My mother’s wildness had not changed coupled with the fact that men will come to the bar and want to seduce me and touch my breast. My mother at most time would use my school fees and would not pay on time and at times I will be driven away from school. This caused me to always missed classes and it always led to my failure in school. This situation caused me a lot of pains so I decided to leave.

 I went to my paternal aunt and continued my education there. She always advised me to concentrate in school. I remain focused and refused to join my peers to visit their lover. My aunt’s husband refused me from using his electricity light saying that the bills will be high so I tend to stay back after school our in other to read my books and do my homework. At a time things were moving well but my aunt’s husband complained toward everything and anything I did and I knew he never liked me so I was very careful in everything I did in the house but yet this was not enough as one day he asked me to leave because he was spending unnecessarily for food. I was now in form five so I left and got my own room in order to better prepare for my final year exams. I was surrounded by good people, one of them was my landlady who at times cooks for me to eat so as to have enough time to read. She was like a mother to me.

At the end I succeeded in my exams and went to high school fortunately I made it there too and decided to write the entrance examination into the teachers training college and yes I made it. I went for my training and came out successful and now I am a teacher by profession and equally married with three kids.

From the above, one would see that my girlhood had a lot trials and difficulties I attending school but I still went through with it.  Today I am grateful to my maternal aunt who advised me to look for my dad so that he could send me to school, thanks to my stepmother, my landlady and some of my classmates like Aweh Gladys who encouraged me to sit for the teachers training examination and today we are both teachers.

When I think of my girlhood and how I made it, I think of every girl out there for I feel there is hope for every girl. When girls drop out of school due to early pregnancies, parents should help them with the babies and send the mothers to school because in such situations, all hope is not lost show them love.

My vision for young girls is to see them go through education successfully with all their needs being provided. Young girls should be able to learn a trade, have a skill in other to generate money for themselves for usage. My vision is to see young girls being integrated in all works of life and in decision making in the society for only a woman knows the plight of another woman and can make better decisions to which will favor a woman and in order to make this a reality I will organize seminars and workshops to educate parents and girls to send young girls to school or send them to learn a trade. Inform parents to always provide the needs of their girls. I shall equally organize arts and crafts workshops to teach the underprivileged girls who can’t go to school

As a teacher, I always encourage parents during parent’s teachers meetings to send their girl children to school and not marriage, to provide their needs always if possible. As a teacher, I pay attention to young girl’s problems, so as to make them feel secured. I assign duty post mostly to girls in my classroom in other to empower them and prepare them for the days ahead and above all, I have an educational foundation which provides yearly scholarship award to best academic young girls from primary to the university level. This is to encourage and foster the education of a girl child in my community.