01/11/2025
EVERY GIRL CHILD
In the eyes of every girl child, I saw something familiar something that whispered of pain, of loneliness, of the things unsaid.
I could still feel the sting of rejection in the worldās unspoken expectations, the pressure to be perfect when society gave them no room for mistakes.
the world isnāt kind to girls who dared to think differently. I watched mothers, the girl child who raised the girlchild, work herself to the bone, putting everyone elseās needs before hers. She didnāt ask for help. She didnāt complain. She just did it.
She worked. She sacrificed. She endured. And when the world didnāt see her, when it criticized her, she kept moving. She kept going. She didnāt stop.
And I wondered, is that all girls are meant for? To endure? To sacrifice? Is that what being a girl really means?
In these girls, I see pieces of myself the silent years of longing for more, for something I didnāt know how to ask for. I see the pain that goes unspoken, the silent tears that no one sees, because in our society, sometimes a girlās pain is invisible to the world.š
Iāve learned that every girl child carries a silent battle. Whether itās the fear of being abandoned, the loneliness of being misunderstood, or the quiet shame of not feeling enough, they all fight their own wars. Even when surrounded by love, they are told, in small ways, that they should be more, do more, or change who they are.
I see the pain and I deeply understand their pain. I understand how it feels to yearn for a motherās embrace that never comes or to miss the quiet strength of a father who could never be there. I recognize the quiet struggle of balancing the worldās expectations with the inner desire to be free.
As a girl child, even when they have the love and safety of their family, they sometimes felt like they are standing alone in a crowded room.
Societyās judgment hovered over them like a dark cloud, telling her she wasnāt enough, that she wasnāt allowed to be anything other than what they expected her to be.
This feeling this isolation made these girls realize that no matter the shape of a family, every girl child knows what it feels like to be misunderstood, even when surrounded by love.
Sometimes, she felt the weight of expectations that didnāt belong to her the unspoken rule that a girl child should be quiet, should stay out of the way.
These girls aren't always given the voice they deserved in their own family, even when they were treated with love.
She felt the invisible weight of societal norms pressing down on me pressures to be something she wasnāt ready for, even when her family meant well.
the silent battles fought behind closed doors. At home, she carried the weight of unspoken expectations, her actions scrutinized more than her brothersā. At school, she might excel, yet her achievements were dismissed as luck or obedience. On the streets, she walked quickly, her heart racing at the sound of footsteps behind her
That the man whom she calls dad is the man who comes in her room at night and Leave a threatening echo "this is our little secret" what a trauma!!
But my questions, Deep down, I wondered: Why must their voice be quieter? Why must her dreams wait? Why is her existence tied to how much she can endure rather than how much she can achieve?
Justice For Ochanya
