LISA KANYOMOZI RABWONI, 19

Lisa Kanyomozi Rabwoni is a writer from Kampala, Uganda. Her writing has appeared in New Vision, Fly Magazine, Nile Post and her blog Konversations With Kanyomozi. After a course on multimedia storytelling, Rabwoni found her passion for radio. Rabwoni is a radio presenter of V-Room, a show at Next Radio Uganda. Co-hosted with three other women, V-Room discusses issues that affect women, and how to create a better world for females.

Rabwoni loves to write; writing is her world. She knows that words influence how we think, work, and act, and they encourage us to do better. The written word is the channel Rabwoni taps into to change the world. She says that one of the most pressing issues that impact youth is the lack of access to quality education. Without affordable education, many in the global population are at a loss because they are not equipped with the knowledge that informs and instructs how change can be enacted in local communities. She hopes that young people are not left out when it comes to changing the world and it is of utmost importance to create opportunities for young voices to be heard.

Rabwoni hopes to continue her work with people in empowering them to be better selves and one day start a NGO.

Dear Girl Child

by Kanyomozi Rabwoni

Dear Girl Child,

Your voice has been silenced for far too long. You have been raised to sit pretty and deal with it. Deal with the pain, deal with the injustice, deal with the abuse and deal with the oppressive system that suffocates you. You don’t have to be silent any longer. Your voice is valid. Your pain is valid. You don’t need to coddle their egos. They can’t suffocate you any longer. Your voice will bring the change.  

Sweetie, take up all the space you can. You don’t need to shrink in spaces to be appealing. Be as vulgar as you want to be in those spaces. Terrorize them with your brilliance; don’t let them take your shine away. Refuse to be downplayed, overlooked or ignored. Your presence is valid.

Queen, love You. Selflessness is overtly romanticized. Take time for You. Invest in You. Grow You. We have been told to focus on people and never ourselves because we are “mothers of nations” even before we know who we are. Cultivate You before anyone else, queen. Be your first priority, always.

Most importantly, live your best life. This world has many expectations of what your life should be like. It has many constraints to the level of freedom you should be accorded and guilt trips you when you don’t live within those constraints. Never let that hold you back; you will never please them. Choose to do what makes you happy.

Girl Child, choose you over and over again.