My artifact is photos of my mum. I am originally from Eritrea and my mum was 15 when she had me. She was married off when she was 14 and the things she had gone through to make me who I am today are very important to me. This is why I would like to remember my mum. I was the first child; I was born when she was 15 and my mum was not happy with her marriage right from the very beginning and she managed to mobilise her dad and everyone in our community and family to approve her divorce with my dad. It was a big thing really, but she managed, and after the divorce she decided to release herself from all the suppression that she was going through. I didn’t spend a lot of time with my mum because she died when I was 15/16. She was living in Saudi Arabia and working there, and I spent most of the time with my grandmother, but my mum’s part was very clear. After she divorced from my dad she decided to really have an independent life as a woman, so she was very happy to be a single mother taking care of her children and I was the only girl that she had. She did not want my life to be the same as hers. So she did everything possible – she worked hard to have enough money to send me aboard to get adequate education. She is the first one to tell me that it is very important to rely on yourself as a woman, to fight for yourself.
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