“Mama, I have my speech competition today and I can’t skip school. I know Baba will manage to drop me at school,” Sarah said to her mum as she woke up in the morning.

“Sarah, my dear, just look at the weather! It has been raining since last night. Your school must have been filled with water. How will you go there and attend your school? All the paths to your school have been flooded by rain and I think your school must have postponed the event,” explained Sarah’s mother.

Sarah kept quiet after listening to her mother, who was trying to make her daughter understand the whole situation. Sarah was upset at this unexpected situation. It was a very special day for her. She had practiced a lot for the speech competition and wanted to win it at any cost, but the unexpected rain had made all her enthusiasm disappear. She went to see the sky from her window and made a decision which was a mere dream at that time.

Sarah lived in a small village with her parents. People there struggled hard to get the basic amenities of life. For early education, the children of the village went to a small school in the village, and if they wanted to study further, which rarely happened, they had to go to the city nearby.

Sarah was fond of going to school and enjoyed her studies. No one in the village could beat her in extra-curricular activities as well. After completing school, she managed to get a scholarship to a college and later to medical university. This was unusual for a small village girl, and Sara was the first to study in a medical university from her area. She was a pride of her family as well as the whole village.

Sarah was a humble and down-to-earth person. Time passed. She was going to be a doctor soon. But during her academic journey, whenever she visited her village, she arranged a get-together at her home where she invited all her friends and their mothers. All the females in the village used to admire Sarah for her success and how she encouraged everyone. At every meeting, Sarah explained to all the females about the importance of education.

Because of her constant lecturing the families about the importance of education in the lives of girls, many families allowed their girls to pursue higher education in the city. Sarah’s years and years of efforts in persuading people of the village to educate their daughters were finally paying off. She was elated to know that the girl who was her neighbour got admission to an engineering university. Sarah’s best friend was pursuing her career as a marketing manager in a multinational company. All the children in her village were getting education but still, her biggest dream was yet to come true.

“Sarah! It has been raining heavily since last night. Are you sure you can manage it? I think you should postpone your ceremony for tomorrow,” said Sarah’s mother.

“My dear mother, every rain ends with a beautiful rainbow and a beautiful sunrise awaits the next day. Don’t worry! Everything will be alright,” she said.

There was an applaud in the hall, and Sara was concluding her speech, “Whatever I am today is because of my parents. If they would not have supported me as they had, this village would not have become the first village of our region with a literacy rate of over 85%. Remember if I can make a change, then you all can make a difference too. Play your part and make our country proud of its people. I would like to call my father and my mother to inaugurate the first college and first vocational training centre for women in our village.”

Eyes full of tears and heads up with pride, once again Sarah’s parents were standing with their one and only child, and the whole village was there to witness this memorable moment when Sarah’s biggest dream came true, which she saw 10 years back, standing near her window in the heavy rainfall.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 24th, 2022