Poet of the week: Abira Zakariah

The misfortunes began right from the moment my birth was announced! “A girl has been born!” A girl? I could imagine the look on their faces…”Why not a boy? … A human!” But is it my doing for coming a girl? Why has society since degraded my birth and existence? Just because I was not […]

The misfortunes began right from the moment my birth was announced!
“A girl has been born!”
A girl?
I could imagine the look on their faces…”Why not a boy? … A human!”
But is it my doing for coming a girl?
Why has society since degraded my birth and existence?
Just because I was not born “human.” A human indeed!
Yet, the heavens rejoiced to my birth.
Oh! Surely they did,
For a centre for the spread of God’s creation was born.
So I went through the struggle…
The struggle of having to keep up a home;
The struggle of having to go through circumcision…depending on which part of Africa I was born;
The adolescent struggle;
The unchecked bleeding;
The stigmatisation…
But here I am.
I grew through the moments of pain and of joy.
Here I stand dancing to the rhythm of life.
The melodious rhythm,
The sound of which my ears could not gather years back.
Faith is what my womb harbours.
I am the girl on the street,
Struggling in the market,
Walking bare footed,
Exposed to the cruel hands of the cold nights.
I am the girl exposed to robbers, insects and heartless rapists.
I am the girl who is exposed to the inhumane acts of “trokosi” and the outdated puberty rights.
I am the girl who cries to the brutalisation of innocent souls:
“Where is the world?”
“Is anyone giving us a listening ear?”
We are the girls who refuse to be accomplices in inhumane acts of terrible killings and terrorism.
We are the girls who say “No!” to rape, stigmatisation and oppression.
I am the girl who says “No!” to defeat.
I hold the power to fight the world or retreat.
I hold the power to unite lost souls,
And to fill the empty holes.
Do not oppress me.
Do not underestimate my thoughts.
Do not underestimate the weight that carries me.
I am the tool of change the world currently needs.
So please…
Do not push me to the war front.
Do not oppress me… please do not.
Do not kill my innocent brothers as well as my weak sisters.
Do not make me evil or leave me with a gun or a dagger.
All I need now is love.
So set me free, let me flee like the dove.
Break me from oppression and make me strong.
Walk with me as I continue my tales…
The tales of an African child.
This is my story,
In which lies glory.
So please, never let me feel sorry.
Zakariah wrote this poem for the Carter Centre International Conference ‘Mobilising Action for Women and Girls in West Africa’