(In commemoration of International Women’s Month 2021)
Please don’t look for us, we are not lost
We have not been stolen away
We are still here
Even when they came for so many of us
And shoved us into the deep belly of the devil
There are still enough of us left
We are still here
Our mothers and fathers wail and gnash their teeth
Hoping, praying, fasting, beseeching for our return
We are still here
We are here in the eyes of the little girl
whose innocence was bloodied by the hands of her favourite uncle
We are here in the pain of the once vibrant Jenny
who has become a shadow of herself because some boys wanted to ‘teach her a lesson’
We exist in the fear of the widow who has been left with four mouths to feed
with no money, a temporary roof and vultures circling her home
We can be found in the sheer agony of poor Simon
Clinging to his wife Stella as she dies trying to bring their child into the world
Simon has no wife or child to comfort him
One day every year, we are remembered
One month, every year, we are reminded
There are a lot of speeches, rallies and marches
We sing, dance and clap
And our big men and women come out to tell us a lot of nice things
Then we all go away till the next year comes
We are still here
Waiting for the day when the pain will stop
When we will not have to see the desperate hunger in the eyes of our children
We never want to see the day when the thought will cross our minds
to sell one to feed five
Or the day when we will finally have to trade with the only thing we have
so that our children can go to school
We die a thousand deaths
As we see our children, men and women tied down like goats for sale in foreign lands
We are waiting for the time when we will have enough value to be considered as human beings
As people who do not get stolen away from their homes or schools
Or bartered, battered and disposed of
Cars, bicycles, phones or chickens, goats and cows get stolen
We are no different from all these things
The next time you hear we have been stolen away
remember the real reason
There are those who think we do not matter
we will always be lesser beings in their eyes
They don’t care, don’t give a damn and know they will get away with it
So, they steal us away
Yet no matter how many of us they take away
We are still here
In the bodies, minds and spirits
of all the millions who come together every year
One month every year
Those who remain present but are actually absent
Those who are not missing but are well and truly lost
We will always be here
We will no longer be silent while they steal us away night and day
We will no longer speak in whispers
We know there are enough of us to make a difference
With solidarity, perseverance, courage and determination
We will make sure that everyone knows
We are still here.
The poem ‘We are still here’ is in ‘Where is Your Wrapper?’ Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, published by PRESTIGE, Farafina books, October 2020
•Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a gender specialist, social entrepreneur and writer. She is the founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She is the First Lady of Ekiti State and can be reached at [email protected]
