To start with, my name is Zakia. I live in Baidoa in the southwest state of Somalia. I am a secondary-school student. I am 16 years old. Life in Baidoa is both interesting and scary at the same time. Being the capital city of the southwest state, the town has a big population of internally displaced people, returnees from Kenya, and the local community. There is a lot of trade going on in the town and most families survive on farming when there is enough rainfall and trade. Sometimes, we also face insecurity.
Most girls in my community hardly get the opportunity to go to school. I am lucky to be one of the few. The strangest thing is that I am the only girl in my class. Don’t the other girls in my community deserve to be in school? Yes, they have the right to be educated just like me but always face challenges from the community and traditional beliefs on early marriage. Girls are positioned socially to do home chores only but never have rights to education.
Being the only girl in my class, I always feel strange. I also feel really happy to be among the ones enjoying their right to education. Teachers and family members around me have always been supportive. They always encourage me to work hard in school and never give up, come what may. My dear teachers always want the best for me and they also wish we had other girls in the school to break the barriers of access to education existing in the community. The boys in my class wish their sisters would be allowed to go to secondary school like me.
I stand with child rights and freedom. I am very happy to witness what World Vision has done in my school. I am really happy that the newly enrolled 50 girls in primary school are a step closer to achieving their dreams. Finally, I am ready to help and support my fellow girls to pursue education. I want to study business when I go to college, become a prominent business woman and employ many people.
World Vision Ireland is a child-focused overseas aid organisation and has worked with Fighting Words on a number of projects. These pieces were written by young people who World Vision has worked with in Zambia and Somalia.
