A young girl with a pen in class
An ordinary day it was, nothing unusual, a normal sunny day
with the scorching heat and sweltering sun of Mandera town. As a usual routine,
adan {not his real name} was to visit the local bank branch to deposit money as
a school fees for the new term, what started as a usual day seemed somewhat
unusual for the bank entrance, long queue of old men and women heeding for handouts
for the old folks fill the better space of the bank hall.
Feeling emaciated y the
walk along the dusty road under the sweltering sun and angered by the
long queue of the old folks, adan somehow opted to take a breath and relax on
the bank longue that provide a complete
comfort in relation to outside as the queue length eases up.
Dusty road of scorching sun
Comfort comes good thought, as the air conditioner provides
a temporary euphoria of comfort, real thought of what life could mean when one
has everything crisscrossed his mind.
Alas !!!! abele ,
young and beautiful Somali girl in complete hijab{ Islamic dress} was his
immediate neighbor at the longue .in a normal good day as a secondary student
its very rare not to notice a girl. How could I not notice her? He said to himself?
she too was deep in her world thoughts probably
mixer of contempt and amusement.
Though she looked so beautiful and pleasant, a second look
could show a face in complete distress.
Adan, a talkative lad never misses a pick up line to start conservation
with
Adan: hey beautiful?
Saadia{ not her
real name} : a blank responses and somewhat rude tale greeted adan
Good men never give up. Probably a second try could be somewhat
positive.
The second trial greeting somehow melted her heart and gave
a dried response of OK.
A mature secondary student of much sight and thoughtfulness can’t miss
the chance to make an overall view of the neighour , he casted his bold, black , protruding eyes on her
brown-chocolate hand carrying a big sized novel.
Adan was perplexed , amused and beyond belief, his
accumulated cranium rendered him a thought of the young girl being a secondary
school student or beyond. He designed a self-perceived thought of a girl hyped
with the literature readings in the automated high school syllabus.
Self-perception might lead to wrong-thinking and much far
from the facts.
He smilingly asked her the name of the novel she was holding .
His ears grew wider and bold enough to grasp the awaited
response.
The young saadia who was updated with the content and the
name of the novel answered him
“bro , the novel is called think big crafted by Afro-American
medical surgeon Ben Carson”
The shocked adan asked her class and the school she studies
as it was the behavior and culture of his aged students.
The response given turn out to be a mirage, a deep turn of
tables and a dream in day light .
Adan was in total shock, beyond wonder, profusely sweeting
like an athlete who ran miles to win a race; his eyes grew bold enough outside the socket
Her response: bro ,
am class seven in the neighboring primary school, a response miles away from her
age and class
Adan develop a deep interest to the young girl that was much
informed than her level and even to a level much ahead of secondary school students and very rare
to see a girl of that height.
He asked her thoughtfully how she come to know about the
novel that was much beyond her level ?
She wholeheartedly released the truth and matter form the covered
casket. She narrated the scares and internal wounds they have been suffering
from for long period of time and less exposed among the pastrol societies.
She narrated : these novel belongs to my elder sister who
was a bright , focused and brilliant girl. She use to work hard throughout in
her studies to achieve her future dreams BUT
her education was cut short mercilessly and heartlessly by our own blood father , less
concern about girls education and much dreaded into the retrogressive cultural
belief of girls to occupy in the kitchen and at home
She continued , our father is atypical conservative Somali
man who extensively participates in evening gatherings of old men over a cup of
tea daily, also he profoundly chew mirra {khat} throughout and that needs a
capital to satisfy his relevance of chewing among his mates and also stabilizes
his ego, these lead him to forcefully and reluctantly give her out to an old man about the age of our father .
Her cry and requests falls on deaf ears and her
education falls apart and she started a doomed life of desperation, regrets and
sorrow. at these point the young girl’s eyes filled with tear , she couldn’t bear the
memories of her sister sold to an old man unwillingly and inflicted an internal wound by her own father , memories
of a girl whose dreams were shattered
and vanished into the space of desperation , she bow down in distress and cried
Girl crying after abuse. Distress and in sorrow mood
Adan took time to console the little girl and show a little
strength to withstand the pain.
The young wiped the tears from her redden eyes.
After few minutes of silence and recuperation, she continued
the story :
“ Despite she stop schooling , still her
dreams of learning exist and she reads throughout at home and hopes to do examinations as an
adult candidate.
She further continued , in home we are 3: i , our
married sister and a brother who has been showered with all care and
opportunities of learning by our father because he is a boy and a man to be but unfortunately he dropped out of school and
join the world of drugs and mirra, he become wasted with no future life. Our
mother sell vegetables in the open-air market under the extreme scorching sun of
Mandera, she sustain the family with the little profit she earns from her
small-scale business. i looking forward
to strive in my schooling to provide a
pleasing life of joy and rest to my mother in future.
Hardworking small scale business mother at an open air market
Adan: At these point an old-aged mother come to us, the young girl smilingly told me that
these is my grandmother , as of the culture I stood up to great her. I wished
the young girl well as she escorted her grand mum back home home.
At this era of knowledge and education, still the
retrogressive culture hunts the little girls down, denial and undermining of
the girl child education exists among us. Let us hold hands together and stand for the small sister.
Give the small girl a pen and a book and tomorrow she will
be there for us all, an old adage goes “ educating a girl is educating a
nation.
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