Personal Narrative: My Story Of Divorce

At the age of nine, just as if awakening from a hypnotic state, all I heard was one word— divorce— and I found myself awoken from the sanctuary of childhood. All alone and unable to hide behind the genuine ignorance of innocence, I was forced to confront the realities of my parent's divorce; realities in which, exposed my mother's lifelong struggle against oppression. It was through my mother's stories that I began to see her lack of autonomy as the byproduct of the inequitable and patriarchal conditions of India, the country in which she was born and raised. Although it was dispiriting to listen to my mother's stories of sexism, it was a burden of knowledge I valued, as it shaped my sense of social awareness and instilled in me a critical consciousness—a tool that would prove to be integral in my pursuit to promote social justice. As a young girl, my mother was resilient in nature and independent at heart; characteristics she was told, ill-fitted for "good" Indian girls. Born and raised in …show more content…
While the experience of teaching ESL classes honed my communication and leadership skills, it also humbled me, as I found many of my students to be women who, like my mother, hoped for a new life in America—one with personal freedom and liberation. I tried to provide this independence for them by focusing my lessons on vital knowledge like employment readiness and daily life interactions. Volunteering at the Tiyya Foundation exposed me to the beautiful stories of hope and triumph resulting from the work of dedicated Immigration and Human Rights lawyers but it also exposed me to the many issues, like domestic violence, poverty, and discrimination, facing the marginalized in the United States and around the