Mariam Nanfuma, who is a graduate of Makerere University has not waited for another Fathers’ day to be thankful for her dad. Nanfuma who diverted from her campus goals and decided to juggle books with romance has revealed her experience after she got pregnant at campus.
In her extremely heartwarming message, Nanfuma regrets to have never listened to her father’s advice as she gave in to campus temptations. However, her disappointed dad never abandoned her when her boyfriend refused to take care of her but rather supported her by increasing the weekly upkeep from 30k to 50k.
In her second year at Makerere, Nanfuma gave birth to her kid which was later taken by her ex boyfriend something that broke her heart. However, she did not give up on her studies as her father always motivated her to graduate. Nafuma finally graduated as a biomedical engineer but she still regrets to have never listened to her father’s advice up to now.
Here is her full heart breaking message
“I hated my father, Kaye Ismail, so much that I sometimes thought of going for a DNA test to prove if he was my biological father. He was a single father of two; me and my younger sister Raima…
We would have pretty many arguments about everything; from the clothes to the shoes he bought me. They were all boyish. I always told him to let me live with my mom but he would not let me.
I hated him for that. He was so strict that he would neither let me host my friends nor would he let me visit them. This annoyed me a lot. One thing I did not know was that he was doing what was best for me and I was too blind to see that.
He always told me that the world was not a sweet song and never to trust all smiling faces, but my rage would not let me see sense in his words. There is a day I will never forget. I went to visit one of my friends without his permission and when he got to know about it, he punished me. As I was still weeping, he asked me a question that always lingers in my mind. “If you see a child trying to reach out his hand to touch fire yet you have always told him that fire burns, what would you do?” he asked. Silly as I was, I said I would let the child touch the fire. His response was: “This is why children are always children. You should always protect them and not let them get into danger.” I was always too angry to care. But this was the start of my story.
I joined Makerere University in 2012.
Daddy advised me to focus on my studies and not to rush into getting a boyfriend. I was brilliant, but I also knew I was beautiful. All my friends had boyfriends, so I said ‘why not me?’ When Bashir (not real name) approached me for a relationship, I did not hesitate to say yes. I was really happy and excited to have found true love at last. I thought I had found someone who truly loved me and who would make me forget all about my ‘awful dad’. I did not know he had selfish intentions. I always believed in ‘no sex before marriage’ but he thought otherwise. All he wanted from me was a child and neither love nor marriage. He seduced me into having sex and yes, I got pregnant in my first year at the university. I went to my father’s workplace on Valentine’s Day to tell him what had happened but to my astonishment, he bought me chocolate. He gave it to me and said: “Happy Valentine’s Day, you are my Valentine.” I felt sad because I never told him anything. I left his workplace crying uncontrollably. I had touched the fire that he had always prevented me from touching”.
To cut the long story short, I told my mom and she told my dad. As expected, dad was so furious and sad. But because he loved me, he did not abandon me. He instead increased my weekly upkeep from sh30,000 to sh50,000. Bashir never took care of me. My father paid all the hostel bills and other expenses without hesitation and even gave me money to take care of my son. I gave birth while in my second year and my dad continued supporting me. He would drive me to university every day and tell me that I should not focus on the past, but strive hard to graduate. I blamed myself for being a bad daughter to my dad and disgracing him, which drove me to work hard and make him proud. After some time, my son was taken away by Bashir. My father felt so sad but I chose not to put up a fight but concentrate. Thankfully, I graduated as a biomedical engineer and my dad was so happy.
Today, I celebrate my dad for being such a loving and patient father.
Mariam Nanfuma
