Dear Nigerian Single Mother..

Dear Nigerian Single mother..

I feel you. I understand how you feel. I understand what it means you have to do it on your own with little or no help. I understand when that deadbeat dad makes you question yourself and your worth.
I know how it hurts when your parents remind you time and time again how you would have been in a better place if you hadn't gotten pregnant.

I get the stares when you go to a clinic and all those married women give you that eye because you don't have a ring on, how your family members always ask you why you aren't with him, after all, if you could open your legs, you surely would be able to manage him. How the elders in a church make you an example for other girls, how your parents tell you how bad a parent you are because your child gets injured "if you had been prepared, you'd probably know how to handle a child " they say.

I understand how the father of your child makes it difficult for you, sometimes, he is not in the picture, how you have to do it yourself and get no applause, how you cry all through the night because you have no one who really understands how you feel.
I get how hard it is. I feel you mama.

Understand this, you are doing your best and you are the best mama to your kids. And it is nobody's business how you ended up that way. Do not feel guilty. You have the love of your kids and that is enough. You rock and you are not alone.