Today is a bitter sweet day for me.
October 11th marks the International Day of the Girl Child, where the world takes a day to celebrate 'the girl child'..... the future 'fabric' of our communities, carriers of future generations and the future leaders of our boardrooms.
However, exactly a year to this date my paternal grandmother was buried (my last surviving grandparent). She was a great woman by all accounts, she embodied resilience and honoured good morals over most things. She was even nicknamed ' Morning Dew' for her gracious ability to bear hardship with a smile.
I was fortunate enough to carve a strong relationship with my grandmother in my adult life, we would spend hours discussing principles of life, the omnipotence of God and (my favourite) the life experiences that moulded her.
She narrated how she was hand-picked by my grandfather's family for marriage at the tender age of 9 for her 'compelling' light skin and her dainty nature. Against her own will, she would spend the next 3 years being groomed for marriage as a suitable wife instead of continuing her education to become an empowered young lady. My grandmother went on to have her first child at the delicate age of 13 years old, in fact in her older years, she looked more like an older sister to my aunt (whom she had birthed 13 years ago) than a mother. Unfortunately, my grandmother's story is one of many, even she couldn't escape the powerful grasp of Nigeria's greatest plague: child marriage.
It is on the back of this phenomenon that I found today a befitting day to officially launch 'The Walk with Women & Children' (Tw³C), where we will work towards educating the girl child and women across the world on their personal, health, social, education and economical rights!
Thus, welcome to The Walk with Women & Children foundation, you are fundamental to this journey and I hope that together we can carve out a better world for women and children everywhere!!
Governing Hearts since the'90's,
Chi
Tw³C
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