A Girl is Born
A Girl is Born
By. Mama Helen A. Abyei
This monologue poem describes the plight of the girl child in South Sudan and Africa in general where girls are looked at as wealth instead of full human beings who deserve equal opportunities as their brothers – in terms of educational opportunities and success in life.
When babies are born, fathers are happy.
You rejoiced because I was born – a girl.
You were thrilled because a wealth is born – a girl.
A girl to pay off all your debts.
A girl to sacrifice her life to make you happy.
A girl to be sold so her brothers could have families.
A girl to be sold so you can get more wives.
You sold me to a man with 5 wives, and forty years older.
You accepted to sell me even when the groom to be was a man deceased 10 years earlier.
You didn’t care if I accepted or not.
You didn’t care if I knew him, loved him or not.
You pulled me out of school against my will.
You cut short my education to fulfill your selfish will.
Mother, say something, defend my future, my life, our life.
Mother, look at you, I want to make better your life, our life.
Mother, tell him, I want to further my education, I am smart.
Mother, tell him, someone will pay my school fees, you know that, right?
Father, mother, with my own income, I can buy you a thousand cows.
I can build you a mansion, a huge house.
Dad, Mom, love me just the way I am, a girl, your daughter.
© 2018.
The author, Mama Acholdit Wour Abyei went to the United States as a refugee in 2003. She was a banker in Wau and Khartoum for more than 25 years where she rose to the position of Manager of one of the branches of the Bank of Khartoum in Khartoum. In the United States, she challenged the odds and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the Colorado State University at the age of 61. She has authored a number of short plays and poems. She can be reached at acholabyei@yahoo.com
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