my name is nalishebo.
i’ve been attending the orphans and
vulnerable children project (“the ovc”) in mwandi village, zambia for a few
years now to eat my lunch. i guess you could say that life has tripped me up a
few times... the circumstances of my life have often caused me to fall flat
on my face. it’s been painful – sometimes humiliating – and relentless these
past years. but i am still nalishebo.
this is my story.
both of my parents have passed away, so i’m
what’s referred to as a double orphan. i have an intellectual disability which
has made education (and life in general) difficult in the past. but my biggest
fall happened when six men in my village began routinely gang raping me some
years ago. some mornings i found it hard to walk because of the abuse i had
endured the night before. i was pretty sure my body wasn’t made for this. the
family member who was supposed to be taking care of me was accepting payment from the men as they used me for this ‘service’. their rationale was that i had to pay my way through
life somehow, and this seemed like a good solution.
this experience knocked me to the ground
and i wasn’t sure if i’d ever be able to pick myself up again. bad falls are
like that. they hurt your body, but they also make you fear the prospect of
walking in the world again.
the staff at the ovc helped find an aunty
of mine who i loved, but who had moved to namibia to live. she came back to
mwandi to take care of me when my caregivers refused to prosecute the village
men and the local police didn’t seem to care. i began to receive counselling
from the team at the ovc and slowly i learned how to stand tall again. some
days i still feel like i want to curl up on the floor and escape the world...
but other days i feel like i might even be ready to try and run.
a few months ago i was accepted into a
special school in a town not too far away from mwandi. in this place i will be
cared for and nurtured by staff who are experts at helping those of us who life
has tripped up. i came to my new school a few weeks ago and i think i’m going
to like it here a lot.
i’ve heard of someone called victoria who
lives just up the road from mwandi. apparently she falls all the time but lots
of people say she is one of the most beautiful things they have ever seen. my
name is nalishebo. even though life has caused me to fall more times than i can
count, i hope you will see me the same way you see victoria. my falls have made
me strong and beautiful, and my desire is that my life becomes one that
inspires awe and wonder in all who stumble upon it.
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| victoria falls |
