My childhood started out as a family of 2 parents and 5 siblings including me. My oldest sister always remained out of the picture due to circumstances of her own, but my brothers, my younger sister and I stuck together.

My parents decided to separate and file for divorce when I was 10. My brothers left with my father, and my younger sister and I stayed back with our mother. We moved a couple of times, before my mother decided it would be easier for my sister and me to stay with her friend’s family while she was travelling for business.

With such an impactful shift of the family dynamic, where the family was held together by our parents, everything felt shattered & suddenly things got difficult to adjust to. The basic comforts of being in a family were dearly missed, and our mother being away for work made coping with the new reality, a lot harder.

My younger sister kept to herself and would only ever confide in me. As her elder sister, I took on the responsibility of being her parent too. Life outside the simple blessings felt impossible, but I had to make it work for the betterment of my sister and me. Many instances saw my mother get bullied or threatened into returning us to my father, but her motherly instincts knew that as girls, we would have been married off early without a chance at a proper future with stability.

Being used to private schooling, Public school caught us off guard & was difficult to cope up with, especially while working to make ends meet. I first started working as a sales assistant in a fabric store in my early teens. It affected my attendance at school as I juggled the pressures of having a career and trying to complete a formal high school education.

As the attendance grew problematic, the headmaster of my school called for an immediate PTA for me, to which no one showed up. My headmaster, Mr. Malik took me aside to his staff common room, and spoke to me gently to understand my circumstances. Breaking down in tears, I explained my situation in which affording necessities to survive was becoming almost impossible.

Opening up with him helped in bringing much needed support from members of the community and the school with uniforms and shoes and other supplies, and well-known people of the community took care of my fees; in the end it eased our burden.

Every time I saw my mother coming back from work-based travel in a weakened state physically, mentally and emotionally, I felt that urge to do something to make my family’s life easier. Though she was working hard to provide for us and take care of us but being away from her children wore her down, more so because of the constant societal pressure she was under being a single mother.

Hence, during High School I started working as a waitress. My life from there on involved ups and downs of varying magnitudes, where I endured catcalling, harassment and discrimination. From being called derogatory terms as a young woman to having heard derogatory terms about my mother for being a single parent, to other constant struggles with being able to express my identity and my religion, life was a struggle at every step.

Though the pandemic played a devastating role in many lives, but it was blessing in disguise for me when I got selected by Evolvin’ Women to participate in the Evolvin’ Women program for Local Intervention to Covid-19 in collaboration with The Consulate of Ghana in Dubai & supported by D’NOUR DUBAI.

It was a 360’ shift that turned my life around. With my experience as wait staff in my country, I landed a job in Dubai and grew to learn the interesting ways of life. The cultures, the understanding of all the traditions and so much more taught me the finer things in life. It has made me who I am today, helped me become the best version of myself and my growth will forever keep transitioning.