The Girl Child I Never Want To See Again.

Growing up privileged, made me blind to many things I needed to see. Every morning, I would wear my beautiful school uniform, eat breakfast and pick my lunch box filled with food and have my mother drive me to school. I never paid attention to what my disadvantaged mates had to go through those mornings.

As a kid I used to go to my village a lot, almost every weekend. I saw a lot of children with tattered clothes who did not go to school. We would sort some of our clothes and give them. I used to see children especially the girls wandering in the bushes looking for firewood, they also came into our compound to fetch water early in the morning. I knew they were poor but I never understood what it meant to be poor. I took things for granted.

Although I want to talk about poverty in general, I am more interested in the girl child and how it affects her the most. The girl child is the one most likely to remain in abject poverty, continue to wander in bushes in search of firewood, wear tattered clothes for the rest of her life. This is because her chances of getting educated is slim and in many cases non-existent. Even when she has the chance to go to school, she cannot abandon her chores, she needs to clean, cook and most importantly be married at a certain age and bear children. This was her grandmother's fate, her mother's and will likely be hers. This is the girl child I wasn't and the girl child I never want to see again. We have the power to end this cycle.

It is really sad that on a Monday morning in 2017, we still see underage children especially girls, in farms not for school practicals, but for survival, we see them hawking on the streets, praying for new police and military checkpoints so they can have access to more customers. 2017, just three years to vision 2020.

The remedy to  these vicious cycle of poverty is in education, which the right of every child. In a country like Nigeria it still feels like education is the birthright of just the rich due to the exorbitant fees paid in most schools. Even when the poor people have access to it, the girl child is still denied access just because she is a girl. Educating the girl child is of great importance to the survival of the human race. This is a fact we have refused to accept. Studies have shown that if all women completed primary education, under-five mortality rate will fall by 15% in low-lower-middle income countries thereby saving the lives of one million children. Also if more women completed secondary education, the risk of acquiring HIV is reduced. This goes a long way in helping the world in the fight against this deadly disease.

The first time I heard about #ONE was on Big Brother Naija (oya roll your eyes), I was intrigued by what they have accomplished worldwide and most importantly in Africa, i knew for sure I wanted to be a part of it. I don't want to see the tattered, uneducated, married at 12 girl child anymore. I want to see that every girl child has an opportunity to be all that she can be, the girl should have a voice and the cycle of poverty should be broken. I want more girls in school, not just for the sake of going to school but to help the entire human race.

Visit one.org today and join this movement.

#ONE