INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2015-THEME: MAKE IT HAPPEN!!
Many women are celebrating, many are being celebrated,
even the women who had an impact in the society are being celebrated
even in death, banquettes of flowers are being placed on their graves
in memory of who they were, what they were and what they did in the
society. Yes! This is a good and indeed a very noble gesture, women
are the hearts of the society, a woman is the pillar of her family, a
woman is the source of joy to her husband, she is the best companion
a husband can ever have as a co-home maker. A woman is the carrier of
life, she puts her life on the edge when bringing life into this
world, she smiles even when she is supposed to be crying. And we need
to make sure these goes on as we MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Yes! We have famous women, women with zealous ambitious
dreams, women who are walking in the paths that are mostly walked by
men and rarely walked by women...and the list is long. And we hardly
hear about the women in the remote areas, we forget the women whose
tears are forever flowing, we don't mind about the women whose hands
are always stretched begging for a handshake to make them experience
that human company, we forget the women who are living in isolation
for different reasons we don't have time to hold their hands and MAKE
IT HAPPEN for them. We don't want to go an extra mile, we only
want to know and hear about women who are already heard and known.
We have different categories of these women who belong
to the forgetten tribe, a very special group among them is Women
living With Disabilities-WWDs. Women with disabilities are a class of
women who are experiencing the pain of life where it pinches
painfully. And the question they are always asking is who is this
Angel that will MAKE IT HAPPEN for/to
them. We see them as girls who are not worthy enough to go to school,
this leaves them un-educated, we look at them as women who have no
right to play a role in decision making, this makes them voiceless,
we look at them as women who cannot work as other employees, this
leaves them to live in perpetual poverty, we look at them as women
who are cursed and cannot be spouses to any man, this makes them to
live in isolation and rejection, we look at them as women who are not
fit to be mothers and we even go ahead sterilizing them without their
knowlegde or consent and this leaves them with an eternal emptiness
that they live with day in day out.
A story from a WWD comes here:
“i was was accepted in my
family and treated like any other kid, I was taken to school and even
managed to get a good paying job, they believe that I can read books,
they believe that I can work and get promotion as well as an
increased pay. They believe that I can pay bills, live with my family
and support them, they have no worries when I live with the youngest
siblings, they strongly believe that I can invest and grow
finacially. When time came and I was ready to settle with the man of
my dreams then a real hell broke up, he was my prince, a man who
looked at me as a strong woman, an intelligent woman, a woman who
fits to be his wife, a daughter in-law to his parents, a sister
in-law to his siblings and a mother of his kids. And yes! He did not
have any disability, I fitted well in his life and his family. My
family shook my heart and they made me shrink to a woman I have never
been in my life, this affected my self esteem, it killed the real me
within me, I could not open the book of this reality to let any
person read because I knew many would lose their identity especially
those who looked at me as their source of strength, many came to me
for a strong shoulder to cry on and this truth would make them crush
down. My family kept asking how can I think of getting married yet I
have a disability, they said that this man was after my money and he
did not love me. They told me that if I wish to have kids to love and
support I can take my nephews and nieces.
They said I cannot make a
decision of getting married so they claimed to make sure I dont see
any man so that I dont get pregnant. I kept asking myself a numebr of
questions; how could they believe that I can go to school, work,
support them, support my nices and nephews, pay bills, invest and do
all these things yet they could not believe that I can have my own
family.
I stood my ground and the man
of my dreams held my hand, we were meant to be and this is true to
date! Yes! We got married without the blessings of my family, we had
a wedding without the presence of my family. And now I am a wife, I
am a sister in-law I am a mother yet I am still a woman with
disability. Now my family accepts my husband, they love my kids, they
respect me and they have a positive attitude towards disability, they
always tell people to accept PWDs. My life changed their attitudes
and so can any WWDs, let us MAKE IT HAPPEN! I
now talk with my head high, I even give words of encouragement to the
ones who had a strong faith in me, I am still their mentor. I thank
God they never knew my moments of darkness, they never came to know
that I sunk that low and lost my self esteem. I know any WWD can MAKE
IT HAPPEN!
The best thing we
can do to WWDs is to believe in them, let us give them the
opportunity to prove they are abled differently. We need to have a
strong mechanism to create awareness in the society about disability.
We need to make sure that we include aspects of disability and
especially about WWDs in every area that deals with disability
issues. Leaving out WWDs is leaving out a group of women who have a
tender heart that can nurse the wounds that the society has. WWDs
remain un-heard off, they remain poor, they remain marginalized
because; 1. the society has a negative attitude towards the and 2.
there is no awareness creation about their presence by the bodies
charged with the resposibility to do so. WWDs have a silent voice
that needs to be heard.
YES! We have to MAKE IT
HAAPEN now and not later!
You are all welcome to
my world.
Thanks and remember to
leave a comment or question and be assured that I will respond to
the best of my knowledge.
Firdah Monah.
Email:
tafmona@gmail.com
Skype; fridah,monah
Twitter: fridahmonah
Cellphone:
+254729926360
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