My Name Is Fatima Mustapha. I Am 21 Years Old. I Am From Makarfi In Kaduna State. I Would Like To Share My Divorce Diaries With You . I was married off at age 11. In my village, most of us were married by age 12 to preserve our purity. I am still not sure what that means. I never thought it would happen to me because my parents allowed me to attend school instead of hawking and I loved school alot. In my school nobody made me do extra work because I was a girl. I loved school because I loved coming first and being ahead of the boys in my class. I was in JS2 when my mother started talking about getting me married. I honestly thought she was joking until my uncle brought his friend to our house as my suitor. My suitor, Malam Faruk was a shoe seller and cobbler in Zaria. He was 42 years old and my parents felt he would make a good husband. I did not understand what they were all talking about. I really did not understand what I would do with a husband. So that’s how Malam F...
I was born in Sekondi to a nurse and a farmer. At about 5 years, we moved to Komenda, a small town in the Central Region of Ghana. Even though I was one of the best students in primary school, I always felt ‘little’ when we travelled to cities like Cape Coast, Accra and Takoradi. I felt everyone there was more beautiful, more intelligent, spoke better English and was generally better than me. I had a similar experience in secondary school, always looking down on myself and feeling I was not good enough. Oh how I wished I were an ‘Accra girl’ because I thought they were so cool! Yet, when my family finally moved to Accra, I still didn’t feel cool. On top of this I didn’t even have a boyfriend! If only I could get a boyfriend, then I will be cool like the other girls… I thought. In University, I met some really wonderful friends, some of whom were from ‘rich’ families and I thought being friends with them will make me feel cool. I didn’t. I had the opportunity to start tr...
Today is the International Day of the Girl-Child! And the theme for this year is "EmPOWER Girls: Emergency Response and Resilience Planning". How true that we as individuals and as a nation must give all it takes to protect our girls! We must treat them with utmost care and respond swiftly to issues of their safety and wellness. As families, communities and nation, we must show resilience and total committment in planning for thier future. And we must empower them with education and life skills that will make them excel in their choice career, in marriage and in nation building. Let's unite to give them a Voice! Let's assure them that they Matter! They are our Daughters! They are our Assets! They are our Joy; our Pride! They are our Future!
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