The Sound of Silence

Silence is crying, shouting and screaming. Silence is looking for a chance to be heard; for an ear to listen. It is the weapon they use to scare judgement from our eyes. Hiding behind the curtains, scared of shame. You will find many girls; girls whose lives would have been great if we would only listen and help them. Now here is a story, a story of the weight carried by the sound of silence.

For three years a girl named Alice had been longing for an education. An education that she believed would not only help her, but also many young girls like her. She is twelve and an age when one should be creating memories, but for her it is an age full of bitter memories. She proudly smiles in her community but that smile adds pain to her bitter and broken heart.

She talks of her dreams, in particular a dream to become a counsellor. The reason being that she wants to talk to girls about their problems – girls who want to speak their hearts out yet have nobody to speak to. For now that remains a dream, a dream that she was locked out of on the fateful day when she faced the knife.

She can’t help but cry when she remembers that night. She was sleeping when women came and dragged her out on her mat in their small kitchen. She screamed and cried but their ears seemed shut, for no one came to rescue her. She was carried to her grandmother’s hut where her mouth, legs and hands were tied and it was done to her …  the same thing that many African girls face. She underwent Female Genital Mutilation. It was done in the dark, for they knew it was illegal. They did not care.

Alice is now two weeks from getting married to a man she has never talked to or liked. A man who is twice her age and old enough to be her father. She wants to speak no more, for her tears are uncontrollable. She has thought of killing herself but is stopped by her dreams at night. Dreams she believes in. Dreams that you and I can make come true.

This is only the voice of one girl, named Alice. Imagine the millions of African girls who share the same experience as Alice, yet have no voice to speak out. We need to be their voice, we need to speak out for them. If you want to leave this world better than you found it, be the voice!