<p>“My name is NABEELA Abbas. I am the only child of my mother. But my father hated me because I am a girl. He kept marrying new wives every year in search of a son.</p><p>After three years and three wives, none of them could conceive, so he adopted his nephew, Hafiz.</p><p>My mother took care of Hafiz like her own son, but my father never loved me.</p><p>One day, I played outside after school and returned late. My father accused me of prostitution, even though I was just ten years old. He beat me severely.</p><p>After that, he told me to leave his house. My mother begged her friend, Hajiya Turai, to take care of me, giving her money and jewelry.</p><p>Little did she know that Hajiya Turai was in the business of selling girls. She took me to Bose Orphanage and sold me.</p><p>Meanwhile, my father remarried, and his new wife, Lami, gave birth to three boys.</p><p>At that point, my mother became worthless to him.</p><p>On the other hand, Fatima (NEESA’s mother) was still waiting for her father’s return from India.</p><p>When she realized he wasn’t coming back, she went to Nigeria alone. She found his office in Minna and met him there.</p><p>When she asked him about ANEESA, he was confused. He never received the child as promised.</p><p>Together, they searched for ANEESA, but they couldn’t find her.</p><p>Eventually, Fatima married her fiancé, and they started a new life in India.</p><p>Meanwhile, NEESA and NABEELA were taken in by the kind woman, Hajiya Rabi, who had no children of her own.</p><p>She registered NABEELA for WAEC, and she passed with flying colors.</p><p>When asked what she wanted to study, NEESA said ‘Law,’ and NABEELA said ‘Medicine.’</p><p>Hajiya Rabi was a wealthy woman, but she had no family. They had all died in a plane crash. She also had breast cancer, but she never told the girls.</p><p>Years passed, and NEESA became a successful barrister at 24, while NABEELA became a doctor at 22.</p><p>They both pursued higher education abroad.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
