She came running up the hill toward us in her school uniform dress, the sun low and glowing behind her.
She got to us, panting, smiling, grass in her hair.
“Woah girlfriend, take a second. Take a breather,” we said as we welcomed her and all giggled together. I picked the grass out of her hair, she caught her breath.
Angel was her name. She was 14 and smiley and eager to chat with us. I hadn’t met a personality like hers yet in this context; most recipients I interview are a little shy at first…understandable. Not to mention, Angel was a Scholarships for Teen Moms recipient, which means she was likely abused when she conceived. Even more reason to be shy about an interview, but she wasn’t.
She and I sat down and talked, and she shared her story with me as casually as if she was telling me what she had for lunch that day: she was 12 and working her mom’s maize stand. A local man came by and raped her. She had gotten to know him as a customer before the event. He’s in jail now for what he did. She went to Wakisa during her pregnancy, had her baby, and later received a scholarship from The Hope Venture to go back to school. Again, she’s only 14.
I sat there, shocked. At her story, at how able she was sharing it with me. I asked her how school was going, and she told me she was the dorm captain, class monitor, and overall school prefect. She loved leadership, the discipline of it. Being somebody her peers could go to. She had such a bubbly personality for all that she had been through, and she wasn’t letting her circumstances stop her potential.
We wrapped up and went back to the group. We heard cheering at the bottom of the hill and wondered what it was. It was a soccer game. Her soccer game. Her team was playing and she took a break to come talk with us. That’s why she had grass in her hair. She was 14 and a mom and playing in a soccer game. In her dress, at school.
It’s sometimes so hard for me to wrap my head around our recipients’ stories. But it makes me that much more grateful for The Hope Venture and the work our partners do to make sure recipients’ stories don’t end at the heartbreak. To make sure they get to play soccer in a dress at school as a mom.
