WORK HARD by@chidinmajohn

Just at the conference, a man from the press ask an unexpected question which took me back to my past. He asked, "Mrs Rose, what actually inspired you to do this great thing in the society?"
I recalled my childhood days. Then i said "a woman named Vanessa inspired me to be who I am today, although her inspiration was from a negative aspect".
I happened to come into the family of Mrs Vanessa due to a tragic accident that took my Mom, who was the only surviving family I had.
Mr Ben who happened to be a close friend to my Mom, was the husband to Vanessa, heard about the incident and came to take me. He brought me into his home and assured me that love and comfort, that I am a daughter to him.

I was so happy, but more excited about the fact that I would have a large family, since all I had in the past was my Mom.
But when we got to his house, the reaction of his wife didn't say the same. Mrs Vanessa sparked immediately going into a furious rage to rain storm upon the house. She said all manner of things about me, like what if I was possessed, what if I would bring bad luck to their family, what if I was raised with bad morals, then I would be a negative impact to her children. Mr Ben tried his best to calm her down, for the moment and explained things to her. Few days later it became blissful, it felt as if she had finally accepted me as her daughter. Those moments brought so much happiness to me, that I felt like they were all my real family. Real mother and father, and real sisters.

Mr and Mrs Ben were blessed with three girls, who were my new younger sisters.
But all these were like a dream, a fantasy of a little girl who was fooling herself.
Mr Ben left for work two weeks after. He was a sailor so wasn't always at home.
It was when he left, I realized Mrs Vanessa's intention towards me.
She didn't put me in school as promised her husband she would. And several maltreatment followed suite (starvation, beatings for no just reason, and rendering abusive words to me each day). I became the house help.
Three months after uncle Ben had left, it was time for his return. Mrs Vanessa enrolled me into an evening lesson, so my mind could be a little active as that of a child going to school. She lied to her husband that I was in school as promised and whenever he spoke to me, she made me tell the same lie.

On the day of his arrival, he called to say he won't be returning due to the way another job. Wasn't so bad on Mrs Vanessa as long as he kept the money flowing in. He promised his girls that he would return the next month but he never did.
The next month, we had some visitors from the base, we were told that uncle Ben was attacked by pirates on sea, and he was killed.
Months after he was buried. Then after the burial I was kicked out of the house. Mrs Vanessa called me a witch, that I jinxed her happy life.

I roamed the streets for days with nothing to eat. Until one day, when I thought it was the end, that I was finally dying out of starvation, someone took me. I woke up to find myself in a hospital, where the lady sitting besides me told she picked me up from a street. She asked about my family and I told her everything and how I ended up in the streets.
That day was my redemption. She was a single lady(Lousy) without children nor husband. Her husband left her because she couldn't conceive, so she took me in as her daughter. Showered with love, we had dreams of showing the same love to as many children who weren't given love just like me. But one day, my mom, Lousy died from cancer.

But I took upon myself to fulfill our dreams. I worked hard and achieve all these wealth I have now, just to fulfill that dream.Now i have shared the same love to thousands of children. Given them shelters and to those who are still with their parents but still suffering, I assisted their parents to enable them live comfortable
Thanks to Mrs Vanessa, I'm a great woman