SEC-S18W6:Once upon a time when I was a child!
Steem greetings all the way from the motherland-Cameroon to friends of the steem Venezuela community. It is another privilege to share ideas on the topic “Once upon a time...”. I will share my story growing up in a rural village and in a royal family with lots of gender biases due to traditional stereotypes.
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Once upon a time, there was a family that lives in an urban center with both parents doing business. Life was so sweet and our house was like a center where all family relatives come to stay. My mom will cook in a bigger pot every blessed day to feed the crowd in the house.
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Armed robbers attacked our home one night when my dad and mom had returned from buying goods to sell including money they loaned. That is when we understood the lyrics “…when there is money, friends will be there and when there is no money friends will go…”. Life was so difficult to cope to the extent that even feeding was a huge challenge. Everyone left and thank God my dad had constructed a house in the village.
From an urban area to a rural village with 5 girls of which I was the fifth child at the time, to a royal family with lots of gender stereotypes. Life became hell for us as my mom gave birth to another three girls making us 8 girls in number.
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We faced all sorts of child abuse and constant name-callings from my dad’s brothers and sisters. To the extent that my dad was constantly being pushed to marry another wife.
We were never encouraged to go to school because school was meant for boys and not girls. At that time, all we could hear was “…go and get married,…stop wasting your father’s resources”.
I thank God for my mom because, despite all the humiliation and abuse, she stood her ground and ensured that we all went to school. She struggled alone to ensure her kids were educated while my dad was caught up in between whether to embrace his traditional stereotypes or forget about them and face reality.
Today, everyone is trying to come back to us because they have seen that we challenged the traditional stereotypes and conquered them. We break all the gender rules and come out triumphantly. All the shackles of servitude levied on women in our society, we challenged them and rewrote our story.
Let no one determine your future because of one stereotype or another. Life is full of challenges and only the brave and smart can survive it all. This is the end of my story and I will invite @majerius, @saxopedia and @waterjoe to share their stories with us.
Thank you, friend!
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@chant
I have heard the whole story of your childhood and I am very sad that how you spent your childhood because childhood is a beautiful moment of our life which we spend well and you guys have done it well. They used to torture your father like this for the second marriage and they used to torture and torture you so continuously. Have a good time and take care of others and I hope your mother has had a very difficult time and you take good care of her and give her everything now because your mother has had a very difficult time. See, because they have done so bad to your father, what will happen to your mother, I hope, because you are living a good life.
BEST REGARDS
@alisha-doll
My childhood was not full of fun moments but rather on a daily basis fighting gender stereotypes. Thank you for the support.
So sorry about what you ladies must have gone through in the past. Like the saying goes, God works in mysterious ways. God has bless you ladies to put shame in the eyes of your mockers!! Mumsy really tried raising you girls. She deserves an award.
How about your dad, did he later succumb to the pressure his siblings was making him pass through to get a second wife cos of a male child?
I use to think this practice was a Nigerian thing, I didn’t know even Cameroon also go through this…
Thank God for civilization that’s making us change our mindset in a lot of culture we practice in Africa..
It is a life I will never forget it and will never pray for any girl child to go through it.
As I said in the content, at one time he was in-between and confused because he did not want to go against family wish. We thank God that today, he has become an advocate for the girl’s child rights to be respected. Thank you for the support.
Creciste en una sociedad muy difícil y de mente muy cerrada. Lo sucedido en el campo los hizo deshacerse de los interesados, pero entraron en otro círculo difícil.
Estoy segura de que aunque aquello lo consideras un infierno ahora valoras a cada una de tus hermanas. Me impresiona que sean ocho hembras una tras otra. Es un misterio de las probabilidades. Sin duda una prueba para quitar ese velo de la discriminación a las mujeres en aquel momento. Ustedes pasaron la prueba, las felicito con toda el alma. Todo lo que pasó las hizo quienes son ahora. Dios bendiga a tu madre y sus gran temple.
Mothers are always to be cherished for what they go through each day for the betterment of the family. Thank you for the support dear friend.
Hola apreciada amiga. Es bueno tener una familia numerosa y en la tuya se evidencia claramente la manera como pudieron socorrerse en momentos difíciles aún cuando señalas ese mal momento donde muchos que ustedes consideraron que le iban a apoyar No lo hicieron. Sin embargo pudieron salir adelante y lo importante es que tuviste una niñez con el apoyo de tus padres que es lo esencial para todo individuo. Bendiciones y éxitos.
Large families to an extent is good but as well troublesome. I do not advocate for large families especially when there are limited resources to cater for the needs of the kids. Thank you for the support dear friend.
Hello dear @chant!
Your loyalty in rejecting gender norms and seeking education in the face of hardship is outstanding. It is fantastic how your mother strength helped you succeed. Your story shows the courage need to win over hardship and break norms in society.
Thank God for the wisdom upon my mom and she could not fight the physical but uses her wisdom to empower us and we changed the narratives about the girl child. Thank you for the support.
I feel that your mom is an ideal. She is cleaver female