MARIAM ALAYANDE

11TH JANUARY, 2016 5:20 PM ACCRA,GHANA. Everything is a barrier; religion, color, social status, ethnic group, country of origin, tribe and money. Barriers are everywhere, even age can be a barrier. When it comes to love there isn’t meant to be a barrier, the world is meant to be ruled by love, instead these barriers govern us. I look in the mirror for the 10th time, I'm meeting my fiancé’s parents today. I’m quite nervous because from time to time I've heard them make negative side comments about me. First was about my religion, ‘how do you let a muslim marry a christian?’, ‘how does it work out?’ It’s no one's business except the two involved but tell that to some africans, everything matters to them; where you come from, what your parents do, how you look, how you talk, what you do, how you compose yourself, everything matters, even your facial expressions might count, how you wear your hair counts. Today I'm walking into the lion’s den. What happens if th...

It's very easy to ask ‘why didn’t you leave?’,disregarding the sensitivity of this sentence. The increase of domestic abuse reports have suddenly risen, and the reasons are uncertain. Breaking the silence of domestic abuse is definitely what the world needs. You and I know that the society has gone a long way in ruining relationships. In the mid-1800’s, it was legal for a husband to have authority over his wife, even valid for a man to beat his wife as a way to exercise authority over the wife. This might come as a shock to you but some countries, for example: Nigeria ,has the provision of the Penal Code applicable in the Northern part of Nigeria which indirectly encourages violence against women. There are cultural believes in some countries that it is socially acceptable to hit a woman in the name of discipline. Physical abuse isn’t the only type of abuse, it can be emotional, verbal, economic, sexual and religious. Who is to blame for domestic abuse? It started...