By Dr Rosaria Marron
Among the projects undertaken around gender in education and development in the last year, EADS has come across some inspirational stories of women and girls in Central Asia, West Africa and Southern Africa. One highly inspirational story is that of Maryam Yakubu, a positive role model for many girls in Tafawa Balewa, a local government area in the Southern part of Bauchi State in northern Nigeria. Maryam was 21 years old when she published a book titled ‘Blood of an Innocent Child’. She graduated from Presentation Brothers Secondary School (Tafawa Balewa) in 2016—a school run by an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local Irish businessman, Edmund Ignatius Rice.
“Before I went to that school, I couldn’t speak English or stand in public and talk, but when I went to the school within a short period of time, I achieved that.”
A young and highly motivated lady, Maryam says going to the school helped her to build on her dreams. She always knew she wanted to be a writer. Born into a home where no one had been to school before her, Maryam was determined to achieve her dreams even though she felt that the career she wanted to pursue would be condemned in her community. When she told her parents that she wanted to be an actress, they were not happy.
“When I told my parents I want to be an actress, they felt is an abomination to the community.”
She found it very difficult and did not feel supported by her family and society. All this changed when she met a lady who became a role model for her. This lady made her realise that it is possible to pursue and achieve her dreams, and Maryam changed her perspective as a result. She realised that she could help the society if she remained focus.
“If want to know about a society, read their books.”
Something happened in her school that motivated her to write her first book. The incident involved a teenage girl who became pregnant and was expelled from the school. Her mother was worried about what society would think about the girl when they found out, and encouraged her to have an abortion so she could continue her studies. Unfortunately, the girl died in the process.
This incident made Maryam reflect on her own life and ambitions. She realized that she had to actively take part in carving her future and decided to write the book.
“I realized that our parents are not always right and may ask us to do things that are not right and we can also enlighten them in some things.”
In her book, Maryam tries to tell teenagers about the value and importance of education and active participation in their lives. Other characters in the book—the girl’s half siblings—all went to school and made positive achievements. They play a very important role in telling others what can be done through education.
“Writing the book changed me. I realized that I must lead by example”.
Maryam hopes teenagers would read her book and be encouraged to focus on their education and participate actively in their schooling. Though the book is used in Presentation Brothers Secondary School as part of the school lessons, Maryam feels that it has not really had the impact that she hoped for because it has not reached as many teenagers as she would like. She had it published and printed using money she earned from her subsistence farming, and also with the help of her father. Though she didn’t sell any copies, she hopes to print more copies and distribute them to other schools.
“I haven’t yet fulfilled my ambitions but I am doing one of the things I wanted to do when I was in school which is writing. The reason why I haven’t achieved my ambition is that, I don’t really have a supporting hand to lift me up.”
Blood of An Innocent Child was published in 2019 by Pen View Publishers, Nigeria. In December 2021, Education and Development Solutions (EADS) supported Maryam to print more copies of the book which were subsequently donated to Presentation Brothers Secondary School, and more copies will be distributed to other schools in the area.
If you would like to support the printing and distribution of this book to reach more communities, kindly email us at info@eads.ie