Words which girls encounter every day can have an immense impact on their lives. It is therefore necessary that they only pay attention to those that are good, purposeful and supportive.
That is part of the message shared in a new book ‘A girl with a word’ by Oliver Tusiime, a debutant author who oozes passion for girls, their empowerment and creating positive change in societal perspectives concerning their identity and worth.
Although released just last week, it is certainly not the first time Tusiime is reaching out to girls through writing. For about two years, she has been running a blog that mainly publishes messages aimed at encouraging, informing, and educating girls and young women.
In an interview with The New Times, the author shared that she derives the passion for what she does from a number of experiences she has seen growing up. These include, among others, observing that girls are not accorded due value, and often their purpose is only limited to being servants.
"From childhood you are doing house chores, you have to wake up and in some cases, open the door at night for your drunken parent which makes you wonder if every burden has to fall on girls,” she said.
"Many girls have lost their sense of purpose because no one tells them ‘you are more than just belonging to the kitchen, you are more than just a wife, you can really contribute to the transformation of your community in tangible ways,’” she adds.
Her book zeroes in on the relationship between words and girls because she sees encouraging words as a significant window for healing and encouraging those that were at risk of losing their sense of purpose in life due to past distresses.
"As we grow up, many voices are speaking in our lives including our families, brothers, and so on. And before you know it, all that noise has piled up in your head. So, you find that by the time you click 20 years of age, all you are thinking about is getting married, and just serving others – not considering that you can be more than that,” she says.
To counter such negativities, she uses her book to open girls’ eyes about their worth, and assist them to recover from the damaging words that had affected them,
"They need to be told, ‘you can make it; you don’t have to give up your values just because you want to get there. You can have success, yet with a lot of grace,’” she says.
"For every chance I get when I am talking to girls, I ask them ‘what are you doing about your education? What are you doing about your discipline? Can you work on your character?’ because at the end of the day, that is what is going to make you.”
Tusiime says the book is just the beginning of an authorship journey she has begun. She says is currently working on another book concerning parenting, and is co-authoring it with a friend.