Judgement has taken over the world. People no longer care, they would rather judge you, instead of asking about your situation.

This is a story about me, at the age of 22 I lost my mother, the bread winner of our family.
During 2014, I was 21, my mom found out that she was diagnosed with cancer. Mama went for treatment while she was still working as a domestic worker, but it came to a point where she couldn’t take it anymore. She decided to quit, her body was weak, she suffered emotionally and physically, she wasn’t strong anymore, her feet refused to carry her longer. People assumed that she had HIV/AIDS. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

During 2015 mama got worse, luckily my final exams were over. I went home immediately, when I got home mama was lying in bed, I was heartbroken at the sight of her. I realised how bad mama needed me, I went to her and gave her hug, and told her that everything was going to be fine. I wanted to burst into tears, but I had to be strong. Weeks later mama told me that I was a blessing in her life, I was grateful to hear such words “mama I will always be here for you”, I said. Days later mama had lost a lot of weight, her body was thin and she was struggling to walk.

Unfortunately, mama couldn’t stay strong any longer, she passed away. This broke my heart, I had to become a mother and a sister to my younger brothers, and I couldn’t be a student and parent at the same time. Life was tough everything went left instead of right, poverty was on strike and I felt the pain of being a parent.

Mama was my motivation, now I was chasing my dreams on my own. I would cry almost every night, my tears became my motivation to pursue my dreams. I cursed the day I was born and raised in poverty, I would pray every day asking God, for guidance until I came to a point where I felt that God didn’t love me. How could he leave me in such poverty, I ran out of faith, I would always ask myself this question “mama why did you had to go so soon?” I would wake up every day with no goals to achieve, I would sit outside writing or reading a novel. People started to talk saying, “what happened to her studies, her mom was always bragging about how she was going to graduate.” Don’t judge a book by its cover.

I was still chasing my dreams, I applied online every day, and then one day I got a job. That was the best day of my life, I so wished that mama were there to celebrate with me. Early the next morning I put my formal clothes, high heels and make up on, than went to work. People were still talking asking, “Is she prostitute? Or does she have a blesser?” Don’t judge a book by its cover.

I enrolled to finish my studies again, I owed it to her mama. I knew how it felt to use gas stove and candles, but I broke the poverty cycle my family was in. I was no longer going to bed with an empty stomach, no longer using soap as roll-on to avoid smelling bad or using soap to brush my teeth. Don’t judge a book by its cover before reading it.

Just because I was sitting outside, doesn’t mean that I was nothing with my life. Six months later I obtained my diploma in marketing management. I did it for my brothers, I didn’t want them to suffer like I did.

As I looked up in the sky and said, “Mama I made it, if only heaven had visiting hours or a landline, but thank you mom.” Don’t judge a book by its cover before reading it.