Broken not Defeated.

“Bye Mummy I will buy something for you when coming back from school, see you, Mummy.”

Those were the words of the three-year-old Dara as she held tightly to her father’s hands, running down the staircase. Her mother was at the threshold pleading for her husband not to take the little girl to a boarding school.

“Please James, do not take Dara to a boarding school she is too young” her Mum pleaded, but Mr. James was adamant. “Don’t worry yourself, Mary, she will be fine, she is only going to get trained on how to be smart and independent, you know she is not your ordinary three year - old.”

James and Mary have had a series of Arguments about taking the little girl to a boarding school. James had his reasons, - it will be good for their three-year-old daughter but Mary thought that the child was too young to leave the comfort of her home. Dara has proven beyond doubts to be smarter than most three-year-old so her father decided to give her an early start in life, he thought of no other way to achieving that, other than enrolling his young daughter in the boarding in the suburbs, far away from home.

All the joy and exuberance she initially felt vanished at the sight of the departing car that brought her five-hours away from her home, with her Daddy going with. Dara wept has she perused her surroundings, her young heart experienced abandonment for the very first time. She was ushered to her dormitory where she met with pupils like her ages from 3- 10 years. Boarding school to her was an episode of failures, cries, and sickness and heartache as she always cries for her mummy and Daddy.

She actually gained independence early as she had to brush her teeth and clean up after herself even as a toddler. It was no fun for little Dara. There was a time she caught the chickenpox and had to be admitted to the hospital. She never remembered a time she was sick and her Mum was not close by lovingly nursing her back to health, this time she felt all alone and she cried for her Mummy. As far as academics were concerned she performed woefully, as her young mind could not combine both the pressure of early exposure to independence and academics simultaneously.

She disappointed her father by her academic performance but Mr. James will not give up, he was so sure of her daughter’s intellectual quotient, even though she is one of the youngest in the school he believed she will make him proud.

Every time Dara went home for holidays, her Mum would cry her eyes out whenever schools were back in session and she had to go back. And she failed every term. It did not occur to Mr. James that his little child is suffering emotionally.

Gradually bubbly Dara began to recede inwards she gradually became quiet, timid, and fearful. She endured a whole lot of abuse as a young child. The last straw occurred when she returned home for holidays looking malnourished and dehydrated. She was unrecognizable, thin limbs and protruding stomach, the sight of her brought tears to her parents, and the decision was made not to return her to the boarding school. But the damage had already been done to her self esteem, self-image, and personality.

Her life was altered so much that even when she got to high school she viewed herself as unwanted, unworthy, unloved, and abandoned because she still had to go and stay with a distant relative all through her primary and secondary education. She often wondered why her parents didn’t want her around and why she had to be the one to go stay far away from them. Dara wasted the first 16 years of her life undefined and confused about her life’s purpose.

Until finally, her father sat her down when she was Seventeen, “Dara I know you have had unpleasant experiences in Life and I'm sorry if my decision altered your life, but no that all I did was in good faith and remember, no situation can define you. Only you have the power over your life and the course it takes. You might have failed your High School final Exams but you can start over and change your course. I do not believe you are a failure I know my smart little girl is still inside there somewhere, please discover her again.” Those were the Life-changing words that propelled her towards setting life’s goal.

She received a new determination to go back to high school. She decided on a boarding school so she can have all the time needed to study, this time around it was her decision and choice. She searched on the internet and discovered a girl- only boarding school. She submitted an application and got admitted, to rewrite her final high school exams.

She went again with her father, but this time a mature teenage girl with a purpose. She entered the school gate and was slapped with a wave of déjà vu. This same school! She came in as a young child all those years ago, now transformed into a missionary high school. That is no surprise, given the way the pupils were treated like orphans begging for food, safety, and attention. It is a good thing that the nursery school has been scrapped to give way to a higher level schooling at least students would be mature enough to take proper care of themselves, without a cruel matron breathing down their necks and bellowing orders. The structures remained the same but every other thing has changed, even she has changed. She was led after the registration pass at the gate to her hostel. This time when she looked at her father’s retreating vehicle it was with a sense of determination to give him what he wanted all those years ago- A child to be proud of! She was placed in a different dormitory from the last time she was in the school as a child. She dropped her bags and rested from the long journey.

The following evening after class, Dara decided to walk around the premises and reminisce about all the memories of her childhood in the school. She smiled in retrospect as all the memories of her time in the school as a child came flooding back. Before this time she would have cried and felt sorry for herself but that’s never going to happen now, she came here with one goal and that is to leave this place one of the best students if not the best. Since the time she entered the school premise the second time, she had a feeling of unfinished business, she came to complete.

The 18 months of Dara in her school was one of hard work, determination, diligence, and perseverance. It was not surprising during the valedictory service that Dara’s name was called as one of the best in the school. When the final results were out she came back with confidence and her Dad in tow. They both went to the notice board to check the Results, behold Dara was one of the top students in the examination; she aced all her papers with no exceptions. Tears streaming down her face, she looked at her Dad and exclaimed- “Daddy finally I made it.” She hugged her father tightly and he answered “I always knew you would make me proud and I know my smart little girl was hiding in there, waiting to be discovered. Thank you for finding my brave and smart little girl”.

Moral: Everything in Life- success, failure, and achievements start from the mind. If you believed something well enough then you eventually become what you believed. “Because where the Mind goes the Man follows.”