They call me Vanessa. But sometimes, I wonder if that name still belongs to me or who I used to be,before life dragged me here.
My mother got pregnant with me out of wedlock,in the same family her eldest cousin had married into. She was pressured to abort me,but my grandmother insisted I live. After my first birthday my mother had left the village to seek for survival. I grew with my grandmother's unconditional love and the village whispers "the child whose mother abandoned and she couldn't get pregnant after her."
She searched for another child untill I was grown but none came. Instead, I watched as the men she got married to beat her,chased her into the midnight streets with a broken bottle,leaving her broken while i stood powerless.
Still, I dreamed. Teachers said i was bright,but poverty was louder than promise. Hunger does not wait till tomorrow.
So I left home with her words burning in me: "Don't forget home and remember why you are going"