Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

By Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

It took 912 days
Of tears, prayers, vigils, speeches, marches, songs,
Waiting, watching, cries both loud and silent
912 days
The girls came back home
They left many more behind
Yet the girls came back home
The week the girls came back home
There was a day when the whole world celebrated girls everywhere
Girls of all nations and faiths who might not live to see their dreams come true
Girls who might be ferried away in the middle of the night, never to be seen again
Girls married off in broad daylight to dinosaurs lurking around their villages
Girls who become women who become mothers who become bitter, angry desperate prisoners
We celebrated the girls who need hope for a better tomorrow
The week the girls came back home
Yes, the same week we were all confused
To hear that it was not Ngugi but Dylan who had won the Nobel for Literature
More like Usain Bolt winning gold for wrestling, but I digress
The week our girls came back home
Far away on the other side of the world
Where we are told girls’ dreams do come true
And where they are all allowed to live, love and thrive as they wish
We were reminded of the lie this is
We had forgotten that they hurt girls every and anywhere
Girls who become women
And still have hands thrust up their skirts
They still get pinned against walls in towers, mansions and trailers
With tongues pushing into their mouths and thebreath of predators on their cheeks
In a land where a girl studied hard, worked hard and dared to dream the word for herself
No one told the girl she would have to study twice as hard, work twice as hard and never dream of a world that could be hers
The woman did not know that for better for worse, his sins would become hers
Alas, she has done all this work and dreamt all these dreams
Only to have to prove to the world that she is better than the man who puts his hands up women’s skirts
The week the girls came back home,
A grown woman on the other side of the world became a girl again
Standing on a stage to face the sins another had committed
Stalked by the man who pins women against walls in towers, mansions and trailers
The week the girls came back home
On the other side of the world
Many women spoke out
Of their hurt, pain, anger and resentment
They had all been told the lie
That the world was theirs
They found out it was not so
The world belongs to the rich, powerful, tax-free man
Who puts his hands up women’s skirts
The week the girls came back home
On the other side of the world
She wanted to talk about policy
He wanted to talk about pussy
The week the girls came back home
We sang, rejoiced, celebrated and gave thanks to the Almighty
As we do this, we need to ask ourselves
Are we going to lie to them that they will matter?
Will they be sent back to school to end up in all rooms but the boardroom?
Now we know they hurt girls everywhere
Now we know women everywhere stand judged, torn apart, pilloried and vilified
We look at their shoes, their clothes, their hemlines, and their headscarves
We crack jokes both cheap and expensive, to remind them of their place
Let us say a prayer for our girls
Those who have come back home
Those who will still come back home
And for the women everywhere, who live lives that seem far away and far apart, yet their stories are the same
Stories of abuse, assault, marginlisation, discrimination
Victims of physical, emotional and spiritual blows
Made to feel tiny, small, inferior and insignificant
Let us say a prayer for all survivors everywhere
The girls who became women with guns to their heads and knives to their necks
The women who became something out of nothing
The women who spoke up and were shut up
The women who knew they were something and dared everyone else to say otherwise
As we end this week the girls came back home
Let us all say shame on those who ferry little girls away in the middle of the night
Those who put their hands up women’s skirts
Those who tell girls that they dream in vain
May all the noble dreams of girls and women around the world come true
And the man who puts his little hands up women’sskirts?
And pins them against walls in towers, mansions and trailers?
He will soon be ferried away in broad daylight.

BisiAdeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She can be reached at [email protected]