BECAUSE I AM A GIRL, I MUST STUDY
A father asks his daughter:
Study? Why should you study?
I have sons aplenty who can study
Girl, why should you study?
The daughter tells her father:
Since you ask, here’s why I must study.
Because I am a girl, I must study.
Long denied this right, I must study
For my dreams to take flight, I must study
Knowledge brings new light, so I must study
For the battles I must fight, I must study
Because I am a girl, I must study.
To avoid destitution, I must study
To win independence, I must study
To fight frustration, I must study
To find inspiration, I must study
Because I am a girl, I must study.
To fight men’s violence, I must study
To end my silence, I must study
To challenge patriarchy I must study
To demolish all hierarchy, I must study.
Because I am a girl, I must study.
To mould a faith I can trust, I must study
To make laws that are just, I must study
To sweep centuries of dust, I must study
To challenge what I must, I must study
Because I am a girl, I must study.
To know right from wrong, I must study.
To find a voice that is strong, I must study
To write feminist songs I must study
To make a world where girls belong, I must study.
Because I am a girl, I must study.
-- Kamla Bhasin
iLove it!
ReplyDeleteLovely poem...I could have almost sworn that you wrote it - and that you were writing about your life and dreams as a girl, standtall...because the person in that poem sounds very much like you!
ReplyDelete@afronuts: abi o :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. Like the poem too.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine that just to be a human being, I must study?
ReplyDeletethis can become an anthem for a movement
ReplyDeletefunny i just got off the phone and had a conversation about why investing in girls isn't common in some parts of northern nigeria and then i see this
mysterious ways