"Together we stand, divided we fall"

I will like to start by painting the picture of women in different categories in my society. When I was young, the impression I had in mind was that a woman stays at home and takes care of the home in doing all the house chores and ensuring that the children are born and properly taken care of. This care taking ranged from taking care of their needs: food, health, religious needs and all other needs geared towards the wellbeing of the children. This however was to be done with the financial support from the man who to me was not just the head of the family, but the decision maker and the sole provider. The woman on the other hand could contribute with the crops she produced in the farms as supplementary food supply for the family. She was a full time “house wife”. House wife being a profession, and even if we look at the marriage certificates of most women, “Housewife” is the word written on the space provided for profession. I had the same experience. When I was producing my ID card as a graduate from the University, to my greatest dismay, the official who entered my information entered housewife in the place for profession and I only noticed it when the document was produced. I believe he did so because I was there with my husband. I had to carry that ID for 10 years.
It was also a very common phenomenon for young women to give up not only education but sometimes their jobs when they got married, at times under the influence of their husbands. My mother once told me before marriage she was a nurse, a profession which she gave up after marriage and engaged more in farming. My aunt with whom I was living at the University before marriage was a wardress and also gave it up to depend on her rich husband. Only later did she notice how impossible she could go back to her former well paying job, she had to settle for something else. The scenario ha however improved because women have become more aware of the contributions they can make as educated and economically viable women to their person, community, country and the world. A learned woman will stop at nothing to make an impact. It is amazing the success stories that most independent women share nowadays. Unfortunately, they still have problems to give some of them the necessary educational empowerment in my community. All their difficulties were highlighted in my previous write up.
I have a vision to play a major role as a leader in my community. I want to be like someone who will assist them to see a bridge at a juncture where they thought they were stuck or bring hope to a seemingly hopeless situation. I will be doing this by getting to know girls who don’t go to or drop out of school and looking for ways to assist them get this very valuable resource.
A saying goes that “together we stand, divided we fall”. If I become a Voices of Our Future Correspondent, I will be able to sound loudly some of these issues and see how as sisters we can jointly put our hands together and contribute in whatever way possible and be of assistance to these kids so that they can appreciate life and the world more. The hopes too are that what they will benefit thanks to the assistance they get from others, that they will also be able to reciprocate and keep the chain moving.
Whenever I present a situation and a project to the world pulse family and what I want to do to be of help, I hope to get suggestions and advice from members geared towards salvaging the situation. I will also expect to have human and financial support to realize projects presented in order that its implementation should have the desired impact.

Love you all,
Tina Young.