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1 " How will a girl like me born childrens? Why will I fill up the world with sad childrens that are not having a chance to go to school? Why make the world to be one big, sad, silent place because all the childrens are not having a voice? "
― Abi Daré , The Girl with the Louding Voice
2 " The wall in the room we shared will remind them that we were here. That we are human. Of value. Important. "
3 " It's okay,' she say, touching my shoulder, gentle. 'Go on now.'The touch is like electrics on my body. I shock, drop the tray, the stick-meat scattering the floor by my feets. "
4 " I look deep into Ms Tia's eyes, at the spot of something gold in the brown of her eyeballs and my heart sort of melt. "
5 " My mama say education will give me a voice. I want more than just a voice, Ms. Tia. I want a louding voice,” I say. “I want to enter a room and people will hear me even before I open my mouth to be speaking. I want to live in this life and help many people so that when I grow old and die, I will still be living through the people I am helping. "
6 " I want to tell her that God is not a cement building of stones and sand. That God is not for all that putting inside a house and locking Him there. I want her to know that the only way to know if a person find God and keep Him in their heart is to check how the person is treating other people, if he treats people like Jesus says--with love, patience, kindness, and forgiveness. "
7 " I want to ask, to scream, why are the women in Nigeria seem to be suffering for everything more than the men? "
8 " When you get up every day, I want you to remind yourself that tomorrow will be better than today. That you are a person of value. That you are important. "
9 " At first I wasn't understanding him, but now it is not too much a problem. Everybody in the whole world be speaking different. Big Madam, Ms. Tia, Kofi, Abu, even me, Adunni. We all be speaking different because we all are having different growing-up life, but we can all be understanding each other if we just take the time to listen well. "
10 " Now I know that speaking good English is not the measure of intelligent mind and sharp brain. English is only a language, like Yoruba and Igbo and Hausa. Nothing about it is so special, nothing about it makes anybody have sense. "
11 " you must do good for other peoples, even if you are not well, even if the whole world around you is not well. "
12 " Not his-story. My own will be called her-story. "
13 " Who knows what else tomorrow will bring? So, I nod my head yes, because it is true, the future is always working, always busy unfolding better things, and even if it doesn’t seem so sometimes, we have hope of it. "
14 " That day, I tell myself that even if I am not getting anything in this life, I will go to school. I will finish my primary and secondary and university schooling and become teacher because I don’t just want to be having any kind voice... I want a louding voice. "
15 " Your schooling is your voice, child. It will be speaking for you even if you didn’t open your mouth to talk. It will be speaking till the day God is calling you come.” That day, I tell myself that even if I am not getting anything in this life, I will go to school. I will finish my primary and secondary and university schooling and become teacher because I don’t just want to be having any kind voice . . . I want a louding voice. "
16 " We all be speaking different because we all are having different growing-up life, but we can all be understanding each other if we just take the time to listen well. "
17 " If it takes two people to make a baby, why only one person, the woman, is suffering when the baby is not coming? Is it because she is the one with breast and the stomach for being pregnant? Or because of what? I want to ask, to scream, why are the women in Nigeria seem to be suffering for everything more than men? "
18 " ... I feel a free that I didn't feel in long time. And when I smile, it climb from inside my stomach and spread itself on my teeth. "
19 " It feels good to give Big Madam back her box of fear. To put the key on top of the box and leave it in her compound, in her house, where it belongs. "
20 " Write your truth, Ms. Tia say. Your truth. I tear to pieces the paper, ad throw it to the floor. Then I swim deep inside the river of my soul, find the key from where it is sitting full of rust, at the bottom of the river, and open the lock. I kneel down beside my bed, close my eyes, turn myself into a cup, and pour the memory out of me. "
