International Day of the Girl Child

The International Day of the Girl child was yesterday, and theme for this year was "Justice for the Girl Child". It was interesting to note the number of people and organisations that spoke up for the girl child. I read a book on Fistula, it is titled ' Faces of Dignity, seven stories of girls and Women with Fistula' . My eyes were blurred with tears as I read, it is shocking what women are subjected to and what they go through in the process of child birth. The fact that there are inadequate medical facilities and maternity homes to take care of the disadvantaged and the unreached in the villages and slums is appalling.

Poverty is another factor that subjects the girl child to all sorts of harm including; early marriage, rape, domestic violence, illiteracy etc. So while we celebrate the girl power and women that have achieved momentous feats in life. Let's not forget; that vulnerable girl that is filled with pain and has lost hope for her life, the girl child that has been raped and asked to bear it because it's her lot, The girl that has grown to live in a world that considers her a lesser being because of her body and has thus severed her self esteem.

As we chant the phrase 'Justice for the Girl Child ' let it not be another sweetly coined phrase. Let this be a step in the right direction, to uphold the right of the girl child and that her voice be heard. We cannot keep disrespecting the Sex that bore us, the carrier of generations, the keeper of nations, The womanhood! This is also a call for the girl child to stand up for herself and stand for each other. It is a call to be the great person you were created to be , A Woman with goals and ambition and dreams to big to be crushed.