Editor’s note: Humanity Against Poverty (HAP) begins their work with a human story. By dipping into the rich stories of people impacted by poverty. It’s a digital platform that prides itself in depicting the beautiful, ornately layered stories of people challenged by circumstance. There is often triumph, happy moments, celebrations, food sharing and laughter. These are not images seen with Africans. HAP strives to change the negative images that accompany poverty. Poverty doesn’t have to be ugly and every solution starts with a good story. WardheerNews shares with its readers the story “A day in the life of a young Somali girl” written by HAP. Please see also HAP’s work at humanityagainstpoverty.org and follow them in social media.
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Sahra, a ten years old I met when her family hosted me in Erigavo Somalia, is the most grown up, reliable and mature ten year old I have ever come across. She wakes up at first light and prepares the morning for the rest of the family. She bakes the morning bread, makes tea and by six thirty she is serving everyone breakfast and then she gets ready for school.
With loose books under her arms, she joins other girls who equally have started their morning the same way with family obligations. The house feels empty without her. She isn’t talkative, or distractive, or a troublemaker like some of the other girls I have met here. She is poised, quite and calculated. Its as if her thought are always on how she would accomplish the work ahead. School lets out around ten for a short break; Sahra joins me and her mother for mid morning tea.
Part of me feels badly for her, knowing well what girls her age are doing in America. I realize there is too much expectation placed on young girl like Sahra, and I wish I could bring education and healthcare and all the other important social services she is missing in her young life. Then there is this other side of me that admires her calculated mind, her wisdom and her self-assuredness.
One Friday (Thursday and Friday are the weekend in Somalia) her fourteen-year-old sister Najma washed all the cloths in the house by hand. She spent five hours washing and sorting cloths. Friday is often the clean washing day and girls across the city divide their time between regular chores and laundry.
Read more: A day in the life of a young Somali girl
Source: Humanity Against Poverty
