02/04/2026
"I thought I had finally found the man who would take me to the altar. We've been together for 2 years. He has a good job in the city and always told me how much he loved my intelligence and my drive.
Last week, he finally agreed to visit my family in the village. My mother was so excited. She spent her last savings to buy fresh catfish to make a special meal for him. Cuz our old plastic chairs were broken, she ran to the neighbor’s house to borrow a strong wooden bench so my "husband-to-be" could sit comfortably. But when he arrived, he looked like he was in a prison. He didn't even touch the water we gave him.
He just kept staring at my mother’s hands rough and dark from years of farming and selling firewood just to pay my school fees. He kept looking at the floor of our house" that is not tiled and the old zinc on the roof. Two days after he left, he sent me a long message that broke my heart into pieces. He told me that he is a man of class and he cannot bring himself to marry into a family where he will become the only hope for survival. He said he saw the way my mother was looking at him, and he knows she only wants to use him as her poverty alleviation scheme. He said he cannot marry a girl whose background will pull him down.
Before I could even explain that my mother is a proud woman who has never begged for a dime, he blocked me on WhatsApp. He blocked my calls. He deleted every trace of me from his life as if I were a disease. He didn't see the love in the food my mother cooked. He didn't see the strength in the woman who sold her last wrapper so I could graduate with honors but He only saw the old bench and the dusty floor.
My heart is heavy. Is it now a crime to come from a humble home? Does my degree mean nothing because my father’s house is old?😭 I'm heart broken, it's unbearable for me😭 💔"
