By Hasiatu Sali
Hasiatu Sali- Peer educator |
Education suddenly became part of my menu. When
I had my First School Leaving Certificate, and was admitted at GTHS Nkambe that
was when I understood the importance of education. People always say that
education is the key to a successful life but I will contextualize it by
telling all the young girls (ages 15 and above) that you can make your tomorrow
happen today by investing your leisure in education. Dear sisters, you can make
your tomorrow today through education. I have decided to tell my life story
because I have observed that despite the sacrifices byt government and our
parents for some of us to make our tomorrow today, we still disappoint them. In
the past, we, Muslim girls were not given the opportunity to go to school, the
boys were but today it is different. I feel sad that this opportunity is being
squandered by many of us (especially the Mbororo girls).
However, I wish to draw your attention to
this fact and at the same time remind all of us if you make education your
first husband, it can never fail. An educated housewife is more productive in
our contemporary society. On the contrary we are the ones that have always fail
education. Education is like the soil where you can only harvest what you have sown.
Today, the evidence is clear that those
who own the high herds of cattle and highest number of dishes in their
cupboards are the people who sent their children to school. What I have learnt
as a High school student is that my going to school has finally taught me that whenever you have a goal, it's a good idea to have both a
plan A and a back-up Plan B, unless you are illiterate. What I mean here is
that early marriage is the easiest way to frustration and you can avoid if we
(young girls) can think out of the box of pleasure. When I was reading a book
two days ago, I saw this inspirational quote by Jarod Jintz and it read: The
future is right around the corner from a bar called, “Yesterdays.” I know, I
work there every tomorrow.
I think it is possible for us to
make education our first husband because without education, a woman’s dream
cannot come true. It is not only the key of life as we are often told, but the
key in your hand that will open every door for you tomorrow. When I was in
class six, a friend of mine told me that after our graduation she was getting
married. As I am writing my Baccalaureate Technique, she is already a mother of
three. But unfortunately she had abandoned the husband on grounds that she made
the wrong choice. I have learned one thing that while her husband disappointed
her, mine which is education has been very fateful. Every time I am back from
school and I see my father coming back from the field, I always think of what
he said to me when I obtained my CAP examination. He said “my daughter, I am
proud of you”. The sentence was very short but pregnant with meaning. Please,
girls do not always disgrace your parents or family due to useless boys who
would always like to play us around for their sports. It is your tomorrow that
is at stake because HIV/AIDS too is just next door waiting to make new victims.
Tyron Edward says, “Thoughts lead
on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide
character; and character fixes our destiny” in my opinion, it is what we think today and act that puts
forth our tomorrow. Think positive and you will see your tomorrow today by the grace
of Allah. Social prestige is equal to social ill given that it can be a good
choice at a very wrong time. Making the right choice at the right time paves
way for a better tomorrow. That is the quality of life that we need to pay
after the price of the bars called “yesterday”, when the night clubs and other
fancy things are forgotten. That is why all successful people (men and women)
are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every
respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal is
only possible if we think education, eat education and above all, make it a
tradition in our hearts. In the past, our parents had no idea that what a man
can do a woman can do it even better, but nowadays it is happening.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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