My name is Lightness Remy and I am 19 years old. I am the first born in our family and I am Tanzanian. I live in Arusha with my mother and my young brother.
My father left my mother so now we are living with my stepfather. This has been a bad situation that has caused a lot of stress. For instance, my stepfather wanted to sexually engage with me and often tried to approach me. He tried to rape me once but thankfully my neighbors were alerted by my screaming and he immediately stopped. They asked me what had happened but I wasn’t ready to tell them. I wanted to tell my mum, but at that time she was pregnant, so she decided to ignore the whole situation.
When my stepfather receives his salary, he spends it at the club with different women and comes back home empty handed.
He usually tells me “I am not your father, I can be your boyfriend so don’t call me father and I don’t need you to see me like a dad. Tell your mother to fight for you because I can’t support you for anything. And if you want me to support you, you have to become my girlfriend.” So now it is just better for me to stop talking with him, and focus on supporting my mother and brother through the help of perfect vision and finishing my higher education, which I’m about to start in June, thanks to the support of a volunteer.
For me, Perfect Vision is a good place to learn different skills and gather my thoughts. Not only to fight for us, but also to learn about business so I’m able to pay for my mother’s rent, and in the future, find another house to live far away from my stepfather.
With the help of Perfect Vision, I now have my own business of selling soap. I hope I can continue this business while I’m in school, so I can still earn a bit of money, but I’m thankful for all I have already learned
