I am waiting for the day… when everything changes, the day when people can live in freedom and harmony. The day when everybody is equally treated.
Oh my bad, how unpolite of me. I haven’t introduced myself properly.
Well, hi.
So, I am Maya, a fifteen year old girl from India. I was born into a poor family, who has been living of the rice buisness my great-grandfather started decades ago. I have been working on the field as long as I can remember, along with my two brothers and five sisters. I don’t know what a «?normal?» family looks like. I don’t know what it’s supposed to be like. I only know that I am worthless than my brothers. My mother told me I should always behave, should follow the rules made up by men. And if I would not follow those rules something bad would happen to me. I never broke the rules, so I do not know what would happen if I did so and to be honest I do not want to know what would happen. I had one friend in my entire life, he was the neighbour’s eldest son. I have known him since I was three years old. We would go to the enormous tree together and play for an hour or two and then come back home. He always was a joyful child. Whenever I saw him, he had the biggest smile on his face, but often the happiest people are the saddest. Every time I asked him if something was wrong, he would brush it off, behind his clever lies he fooled me making me believe everything was fine. He knew how to talk to people and how to make them feel good. But, when it got dark, I can swear I could hear his screams…
One day, he disappeared out of the blue, but his parents did not seem to care. I think to myself, if I disobey, maybe this will happen to me…you just disappear. I found myself asking “Will he ever come back home? So, I can hold him and tell him everything will be okay”. Every time I cried; the tears flowed down my cheeks, but the warm salty tears, they made the pain feel even more real. I remember being unable to sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes, I did not see darkness. I saw him smiling at me, the good old memories…You know, you cried too much when you just cannot cry anymore… So, without a friend by my side if I ever felt down, you may wonder “What did she do, if she ever needed someone to talk to?”. Well I did not have somebody… My family has always been quite distant. If you bring the money home, you can stay in the house, if not, you get kicked out… Well, in life you always try to make the best out of any situation. You cannot make a bad decision; you always learn out of your mistakes and sometimes those “bad decisions” lead you to something wonderful. I am still waiting, that something will happen, and my nightmare will be over.
And something you might be interested in knowing is that I never went to this thing called «?school?». I know that school exists, because whenever I work on the field I see those perfect children with their prefect life and their stupid little school bag or however you call those things, on their way to school. I want to know why can’t I just go to school? Why can I not be like the other children with their stupid bags and looking all happy? I want to learn; I want someone to teach me how to be an adult and be stable in life. So I can get a higher education and then a good job and leave the family business and move into the city or just move to another country. And then give my children what I did not have, give them love and affection and never leave them. Even if they are driving me mad. And in difficult times, especially then, you do not leave, ever. And then I will feel normal for once. When I have grown up, I want to change the world. So, that everyone can go to school. It should not matter, what race you are, what gender, what religion, which household you come from, whether you are poor or rich, if you are from the LGBTQ+ community… It should not matter. Everyone should have the possibility to go to school and become successful in life. Everyone should have the same rights. Everyone is a star, waiting to shine. Everyone has a talent deep down inside of them waiting to be discovered. Maybe, if everyone had an education, their talent would be supported, and they could make it big. But, until then I will stay in my hometown and go to work, or I will just run away, far, far away.
If you are reading this, I decided to put this letter in a plastic bottle and into the river, hoping somebody would read it and think about me and maybe try to change something in this hideous world.