How I learned that love conquers all

“I was raped. And then I discovered I was pregnant as a result of it.”

Lyyti stunned her audience into silence as her words lingered in the room. She then continued with the opening of her speech, “I thought, I am going to die of Aids and now I have this thing inside of me that I do not want!” Lyyti had one question on her mind; is motherhood a blessing or a curse?

She was tall and softly spoken. Her afro hair was plaited into neat cornrows and her thick brown socks were protruding, perfectly-folded, above her ankle-high Converse. Although a prisoner, Lyyti carried herself with a distinct sense of purpose and seemed freer than many people I know in the outside world.

Her face smiled broadly but her heart was heavy with sadness, weighed down by the scars of life. She had other, more visible scars on her face too, scars that covered its right side almost entirely. Starting at her temple, stretching across her cheek and ending at the very bottom of her jawline, it resembled one of the great crevasses of the Antarctic.

I met Lyyti two weeks earlier at the same prison that she calls home. I was there to deliver a speech to a group of prisoners as part of a wider educational program in support of prisoner rehabilitation. I talked to the prisoners about speaking with impact and why discovering your authenticity…