Ndinini (Danini) Kimesera Sikar

but we girls did it together, led by our mothers, who taught us how to avoid elephants and buffaloes and monkeys who were all going to the same place for the same reason.

By noon, it was time to sit under the trees and learn how to do our bidding.

Late in the afternoon, we will see the dust kicked up by our cows coming home and the bells around their necks ringing out.

My brothers and other warriors will be here soon, and that meant dinner for the whole family.

While eating, we hear stories from our elders, and we sing.

We sing a lot.

I never wanted the day to end, but when it does, we sleep on huts on wooden platforms covered with leather.

There was no such a thing as a pillow.

There was fire next to our beds to keep us warm.

And we had each other, six, seven, eight of us, all snuggle like puppies.

It was good.

Around seven years old, I was chosen randomly by the government to go for a primary school.

I would not have gone on my own.

In fact, the villagers tried to hide kids from outsiders.

They know that kids who go to school start speaking a different language, literally and figuratively.

And parents are not even told where their kids are being taken.

But I was picked.

And then, seven years later, I was selected to attend a secondary school in the city.

and my parents cried all night.

My mother said, I will not survive without you.