“I asked you here to help me take care of this
child, not get educated.” These are words that are now stuck in my mind as I
have heard them repeatedly form the woman I call mother.
My name is Brenda, I was born in 1995. We are 6 in
my family, 4 boys and 2 girls, and I am the first born. My father is a tailor
while my mother is a stay at home mum who sells firewood sometimes. I am
currently doing my form 3 for the second time, and I would love to go to
university for in my family there is no one who has reached that far with
education.
During my primary school years I did pretty well in
class, I was working hard and I used to get good grades. There was a rich
family close to my home, who had their eldest daughter impregnated by a married
man. This girl died in childbirth but her baby was saved and after a few days, the girl’s mother asked
my parents if they could have me living with them so that I help take care of
the newborn baby and they help take care of my basic needs. My parents gave me
over to this family when I was in standard 8.
My grades started spiraling down due to the huge
workload at my new home. I failed my national examinations. Rise Malawi took me
and I started my secondary education there. I was doing very well in my form 1
but as I went into form 2 things changed. This was because whenever I tried to
study at home after school, they would ask me to stop because it was not time
for study but at night. During the night, I would fail to study because I was
tired from all the work done in the afternoon. The family has businesses and
farms but even though they promised to provide for my basic needs, after sales
they would buy clothes for all their children except me. On weekends, I would
wash everybody’s clothes, I could start from 6 AM to 6 PM, my rest would be
sleep and I could fail to wake up for studies.
This year, I am repeating classes because my grades
have been so bad. They kept telling me, they brought me over to help raise the
child not get educated. The child is grown and I am tired of living like this.
Even my physical appearance tells am not at peace. I am going back to live with
my parents, so that I do well in my education. My family is poor, but through
Voices Awake I have learnt that God is my provider and with Him all things are
possible.
To help sponsor Brenda's education, or providing her basic needs email me on mwangalav@gmail.com or whatsapp/call on +265888191832 for more details.
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