By Hasiatu Sali (First Published June 2014)
Hasiatu Ali: Tells her story |
While at GBHS Nkambe I listened with
alot of passion how young boys and girls argued on the importance of education
to the girl child. The debate brought back to memory this small writeup by a
Mbororo student. The American Embassy in Yaounde working in partnership with
the Hope for the Needy Association-HOFNA and the Mandela Washington Fellows
have embarked on a sustainable action with specific focus on understanding GBV and engaging men and boys in the fight against child trafficking,
Child/early/forced marriage and other forms of Gender Based Violence. Unlike many other noble souls who wrote and worked
with the principle of sexual equality in mind the US Embassy and HOFNA took part of Mahatma Gandhi theory into the feild so as to sought to
bring about a revolutionary change in the status of women.
The views expressed by the Mahatma and the actions undertaken by him may not go entirely with the current times because the times have irreversibly changed but the honesty of the Mahatma, the love and respect he had for women can never be doubted. He said that education enables women to uphold their natural rights. Men and women are complementary to each other. Man is supreme in the outward activities and therefore he should have a greater knowledge thereof. Home life is entirely the sphere of woman and therefore in domestic affairs, in the upbringing and education of children women ought to have more knowledge.
The views expressed by the Mahatma and the actions undertaken by him may not go entirely with the current times because the times have irreversibly changed but the honesty of the Mahatma, the love and respect he had for women can never be doubted. He said that education enables women to uphold their natural rights. Men and women are complementary to each other. Man is supreme in the outward activities and therefore he should have a greater knowledge thereof. Home life is entirely the sphere of woman and therefore in domestic affairs, in the upbringing and education of children women ought to have more knowledge.
The Mahatma’s views on women’s education
are based on family ideals because he assumes that man is supreme in the
extra-mural activities and that woman is supreme in intra-mural
activities. Hence, education imparted to both men and women should be
according to their pre-ordained stations in life. The fon Budi III in his presentation at the workshop in Nkambe disclosed that in the past young Mbororo girls of nine years old were given out for marriage while in some palaces young girls or teenagers were (are) forced against their will to marry a fon and notables. (Read writeup below)
When I was a little girl, I knew life was
about cattle and the daily washing of dishes. As a little
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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