Chapter 23: A Plan Forms
Pain had shaped Mary, but it did not define her.
For years, she had endured—taking each day as it came, surviving quietly. But one evening, as she sat beside the fire after completing all her chores, something shifted inside her. A spark. A thought she hadn't dared to nurture before.
"What if this isn't the end of my story?"
That night, while her aunt and cousins slept, Mary opened her secret notebook and began to write—not a story, but a plan. Her handwriting was slow at first, uncertain. But as the words came, her courage grew.
"I will finish school. I will find a way."
She began to write down what she needed: exam fees, a second uniform, a textbook. She listed the names of people who had shown her kindness. She wrote about her dream—to one day stand in front of a classroom not as a student, but as a teacher.
Her plan wasn't grand. It didn't promise escape overnight. But it gave her something powerful: direction.
She started saving. Tiny coins earned from errands, small tips from neighbors who noticed her effort. She hid them in a tin can beneath the kitchen shelf. Every coin that clinked into that can was a declaration: I believe in my future.
She began asking questions too—quietly. She asked older students how they applied for scholarships. She listened to stories about people who worked their way through school. She watched, learned, observed.
Mary didn't tell anyone. Not even Jummai or Mrs. Raymond. The plan was hers alone, her secret strength.
And in the silence of each night, as the world slept and the moonlight slid across the kitchen floor, Mary would whisper to herself:
"You will not always be here."
"You will make it out."."One day, they'll say your name with respect."
Mary had no clear map, no promise of help. But she had something more powerful—vision. And once a vision is born inside a determined heart, it begins to shape everything around it.
She started waking even earlier, squeezing in extra reading before sunrise. She began volunteering to help younger classmates with their assignments, quietly practicing the role she dreamed of someday owning. Her teaching spirit was already forming.
When she cooked or fetched water, her mind worked through school lessons. When she sold food on the roadside, she watched how money moved—how people negotiated, how prices changed, how respect was earned.
The world became her teacher. And Mary, though still a child, was preparing for something greater.
A plan had formed in her heart—and that changed everything.