e

Deja Bamidele. I'm a twenty-four-year-old Nigerian woman. At the age of nineteen, I left Nige

ncreased when I found out my father had somehow become aware of what happened to me. Instead of using that opportunity to be a supportive fa

t Nigerian parents, where was th

s figured out a way to

t to live that way. When I was done with secondary s

ad, I finally had a sufficient amount of information about schooling overseas. So, one

sion he still said no, like I expected. But I didn't give up.

, I felt like all the suffering and str

father's eyes and pretend like I didn't hate him,

some to get my passport done. And I did all these without

United States. They had just finished the grand opening of their new branch in Abu

e needed to do was help with some money for my flight because I was given admission and a scholarship to study in Can

I was an angry, and des

ho were put on earth to protect me were the ones who hurt me the most but I had nowhere to run

h it

g room and told me to have a seat. He started talking about how I need to be a be

No matter where you go in this life, do not ruin the family name more than you have. I wanted a male child but only God our creator knows why he gave you to me. So, Dejare I'll say this agai

. As far as I walk this earth. As far as I'm aware, no man would treat me or any

ergoing that disrespect from my fathe

scholarship and admission were still available because

day, I didn't feel like a prisoner, an embarrassment, I felt free. I was going t

. The morning of my departure I couldn't wait to get on the plane. It felt like the more I delayed, something was sudde

and that was it.

- I was hundreds of miles away from

change the course of l my life, I don't know what I w

that money. Especially if I had known he

ge contract on my behalf, without my consent or my wan