Dear Daughter — Musings

Josephine Kamara is Director of Advocacy at Purposeful, a feminist movement building hub for women and girls based in Sierra Leone. She wrote this letter to her daughter in commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child, and in celebration of Purposeful’s upcoming publication Building Girls’ Power in Sierra Leone: Five Years of Impact, which goes live here on Tuesday 14th October, 2025.

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My Dearest Daughter Jezreel,

The day you came into this world, almost eight years ago, my heart overflowed with a joy so deep, no words could truly capture it.

Like every mother, I dreamed of giving you a life of safety, love, and dignity – and a world kinder and more just than the one I grew up in.

As you are now - with your curious mind and searching eyes - you’re beginning to truly see and understand the world around you. You ask deep questions and notice everything: the late nights when I’m away, the meetings I have with other women, and those moments when my voice rises with passion or frustration. You’ve seen your mother stay up through many nights, working, worrying, and sometimes crying, and you've asked me about it all with that mix of innocence and wisdom only a child can have.

You’ve learned to live with my half-answers, my soft evasions, my tired and motherly smile when your questions reach deeper than your years or when they become neverending – questions about the world around you, questions about why things are the way they are.

This is why I sit down today to write this letter to you, my baby Jez. I write this so as to lay bare to you the heart of my journey – and the shared journey of our people – the convictions that have sustained me, the faith that has anchored my labor. The purpose and the journey that keeps me steady in my struggle, that drives my work, and fuels the quiet fire within me. I write this knowing that one day, maybe many years from now, you will return to these words, older and wiser, and fully understand what your mother was fighting for.

First, as a child born to a millennial mother who grew up during a time of big changes and challenges, you and other children of your generation are growing up at a very special time in history. You are living in a world where technology and new ideas are helping young minds like yours to see, to question, and to shape their realities in ways that were once unimaginable.

This is also a time when people everywhere are rethinking the things that have guided our lives for so long, like our beliefs, traditions, and the systems that have long governed us. Across the world, and right here in your home country, more and more people are beginning to speak openly about justice, equality, and the kind of future we want to build together.

You see, my daughter, as I write this letter, the world is still hurting. There are still people, even children, who suffer just because of who they are: their gender, their family, their tribe, or the faith they inherited. Many girls are still forced into marriage too young, and some are hurt in ways that leave deep scars on their bodies and hearts. Many children still don’t have the same chances for safety, education, or freedom that others do.

As a feminist activist and life-long advocate working with Purposeful, I sometimes feel like all I do is fight. Against the violent practice of female genital mutilation/cutting that continues to threathen the lives of women and girls; against the government and Parliament as they drag their feet on issues that matter, or debate changing colonial laws that police the female body and restrict our options for reproductive rights and care; against the traditionalists and misogynists who feel threatened that this walk to freedom lessens their grip on power.

But sometimes, amidst all the fighting, I also rejoice at the wins. 15,000 of the girls I work with here in Sierra Leone have given us feedback that the work we do is helping, that their lives are changing, that their circumstances, in some little way, might be less bleak than they were five years ago. I hold on to these little victories as tightly as I hold on to you, Jez.

There are wars happening all around us, in Palestine, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, and more and more countries, but many in the world have stopped paying attention. You, my girl; I want you to always pay attention, to be an active witness, to keep your curious mind open and keep asking questions… like when you once asked me, “Mama, what about the boys?” That question showed your kind heart and your wish for fairness for everyone. It reminded me why I do the work I do, and why I believe so deeply in a world where every child can live free and safe. This question made me think of the fact that a nation is like a single boat: when all parts are strong and supported, the entire vessel sails safely and steadily.

This is the future that I work tirelessly to build for you and your generation. It is the same future that men and women before me dreamed of and worked to bring into being, often at great cost. Their courage planted the first seeds of change whose tender shoots we are already beginning to see. The progress that we make today, however slow, uneven or incomplete, is the fruit of their faith and their labour.

This is the world that I work to build. This is the reason I sometimes come home tired, or why I leave home before you wake. And I know that, for now, you may not fully understand. But one day, when you are older, I want you to read this letter again. If by then the fight to make this world better is still ongoing, it will mean the world around us refused to change. Do not be discouraged by this; just know that it is now your generation’s turn to rise to the challenge.

In any case, whatever the challenges and struggles you and your generation will be faced with, do not fear them and do not shrink from the weight of them. The road to freedom has never been easy, and progress in humanity is slow and often stubborn. Every generation must add its voice, its labor, and its courage.

And when that time comes, speak, even when your voice trembles.

Fight, even when you are afraid.

Show love, even when it feels difficult to do so.

Because love - true love - is a force for good. It builds. It heals. And it nourishes.

So, if you ever wonder why your mother works, marches or campaigns, why she is sometimes absent, and all times passionate, it is because she wants to leave you a gentler, kinder and fairer world than the one she was given.

And if that fairer world still does not exist when you grow old enough, then build it. Build it with your own voice, your courage, and your kindness.

For that will mean I did not fight in vain.

With all my love, to my best best girl in the whole wide world…Jezreel!

From Your Mother,

Josephine Kamara

Musings

Dear Daughter: Speak, Even When Your Voice Trembles - Josephine Kamara (Sierra Leone)

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