THE STORY OF MY LIFE

I'm proud to share the story of my life, because I'm not ashamed of it and neither will I be ashamed of it, because it has made me the person I am today.

My life is a mixture of moments, some happy while others very sad. But regardless, I don't regret anything that has happened. I consider myself a strong and very determined person, I have dreams to fulfill and I am willing to do the necessary efforts to attain those dreams.

I come from humble beginnings, in a village called Mataka, Kenya. My county is known for its dry and hot climate and moreso it's known for producing a majority top legal minds in the country. I'm the second born in a family of six children -five girls and one boy. We are all born at home, I mean we were not born at the hospital like the other pregnant women do. I come from undeveloped village, I had have never seen electric lighting until later when I joined highschool.

We were raised by my our grandmother since we were little children, because my mother was a student while my dad was hustling to make sure that our needs were catered. I was so privileged to go to school in Tanganyika primary school. I worked so hard because by then my dream was to step out of my rural home go to the city just to watch the vehicles. That was really my dream because there were no cars in the entire village and those people who got the opportunity to have one, had already relocated to the city and didn't want to be associated with the poor anymore. I remember one time when I was class three we were walking back home from school as usual and a car just happened to be driving the same path we used and we all ran to hind in the forest, because we thought it was a magic. It was such an environment with no exposure and I really wanted to see how life was outside my home.

When I joined class seven the school introduced compulsory boarding classes for all learners in class seven and eight. I remember my sister by then was in class eight. The school allowed students in boarding classes to carry snacks from home. And I remember everytime we were to go back to school from an holiday, we didn't have any snacks to carry with us. And the school used to have a school picnic every Tuesday. And our dad used to give us each fifty Kenyan shillings as our pocket money. I and my sister used to have friends who were sisters too. We were best friends that we used to share our boxes which we used to store our belongings. So our friends used to carry a lot of snacks to school. We used to depend on them. Students used to have sugar for the morning porridge but we didn't have anything. We relied on our friends and if they failed to share with us we used salt. And we were satisfied with the life we had because my mother taught us that peer pressure can make one live a life which is not of their level just to please their peers.

It used to hurt me that we relied on other people to survive in school. I remember I have never gone for Tuesday picnic because I had already used my fifty shillings to buy something for my friend so that she can't imagine of me being much of a "parasite"to her. Sometimes it was heartbreaking to watch my big sister cry because she didn't have something like shopping and she was afraid that I would know because I would borrow it from my classmates, because I wasn't ashamed of my home, I wasn't ashamed of being a poor child because I believed I was not and moreso it wasn't my fault that I didn't have the shopping. I can remember how my sister used to be bullied by the students because she was always quiet. I used to feel very bad and defend her although I was young. I didn't fear bullies because I learnt tobe independent at my young age and I knew I'm worthy and equal to any other student no matter how I looked like or where I came from. Sometimes my performance would drop due to too much stress and when I took the results home my dad would punish me, slap me and complain how he worked hard to pay the school fees and would never listen to me. I had a lot of problems that I wished my parents could listen to, but I didn't have anyone to share with. I grew up as a depressed kid.

I later joined highschool, met new friends who were so determined like I was. I joined a school which was far from home and due to transport issues I wasn't visited like my friends. During academic days which were compulsory for all parents to come, my parents would send someone from the village just because they didn't want to miss that days hustle. I could stay anxiously waiting for them like the other student just to see a fellow from the village. But I'm so grateful for that effort they made. I worked so hard in highschool, I have never attended a school function or participated in any games I was always in my books. My classmates gave me a nickname a" bookwormer" because all my time was spent in books just because failure was not guaranteed in our home, you just make a slight drop in your performance and my dad would punish you severely.

I hated family meetings because anytime our parents called us for a family meeting, my dad would start comparing us with his friends children, how they're smart in class, sometimes he would slap us. And it was so frustrating. Sometimes I would wonder why we were raised in that home but then I had to adapt to it.

In Africa and moreso some parts of kenya the mothers have that mentality of , one should not defend her children against her husband even when her husbands is wrong. I noticed that after my dad replimandend me severally falsely and my mother knew I didn't do that mistake but she was always quiet. So I asked her why she didn't tell dad that I didn't do that and she told me that,women don't defend their children against their father. And I was so shocked because that's falling in a trap called "STEREOTYPES" and society cannot thrive when women are belittled.

I passed so well after form four and was called to join Chuka University one of the institutions in the country, as from last year. Now I'm a second year student doing journalism and mass Communication. I devoured media because I'm always thirsty to understand the world outside, and to raise my voice and remind young girls whose story rhyme with mine that you alone your the master of your own fate. Arise and shine , being born poor is not your choice but having a poor future is ones choice. Don't sit down and cry over the circumstance your in because your not a lone there's another girl out there going through a lot than you do. So don't give up, work smart, be patient, be humble respect others even when they don't,be kind enough, put a smile because one day everything will be okay. In Kenya we say " fake it until it's real" put that smile even when your under pain until that time when your smile will be true.

Thanks so much to world pulse, you can share any story relive that pain. Even when we fail today we keep trying tomorrow until we achieve our goals. To young girls out there let's focus on our goals, let's focus to change our backgrounds, let's learn and change our parents mindset. Let's be forgiving, let's love one another and Gods grace shall be upon us.