I am writing to share my story from the Federal Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa. My family was very poor, and I became an orphan at a young age. I am now a mother of three children—my eldest is fifteen, my second is five, and my youngest is two years and four months old, born via Caesarean section.
I have three sisters from the same mother. Our mother died during childbirth when I was very young, so I never knew her. My father passed away in a motor accident, leaving us orphaned. Life became extremely difficult for my sisters and me.
After our parents’ deaths, my eldest sister moved to town to work as a babysitter. I stayed in the village with another sister, where we fetched water for widows and elderly people to earn money for food. None of us attended school. Our uncle provided no support, while his own children went to school and mocked us for our work.