My Journey till date

My name is Elisheeba Ijekhuemen and I am currently a Mental Health keyworker at St Martins: Ferrini House, but I am also more than that. I am a daughter, sister, and niece, and these different roles come with their respective responsibilities, but all share a common reality: burden.

People often view burden with negative connotations but we are all in this life burdened by what we owe to the people we cherish and who in return cherish us, and mine have defined the woman I have become today.

As the first-born daughter of my parents, I am burdened with the need to be worthy of their love, care and sacrifice and so at the age of 17 I came to an unfamiliar country and have spent over three years here ensuring that none of that was given in vain. Then as an older sister to my siblings, I am burdened with the responsibility of being a fore runner, it is my duty to them to show how you can achieve your greatest goals through sheer determination and hard work, and that motivates me to put my all into the work I do. Finally, as a niece, I am burdened with my extended relationship to my favourite aunts and uncle who see me as their own and have the same hopes and dreams for me as they do for their own children or future children, and understanding that extension of love drives me to fill them with as much pride as they could possibly have for their own children.

Duty and the burden of responsibility have been the core foundations upon which I built my house of dreams, which of course has not made for an easy journey.

I myself learned to make sacrifices at an early age with friends who could not understand my prioritisation of this sense of duty above most things, but I did not let this deter me rather I grew into my own and became more self-sufficient with a new understanding that what or whoever is meant to be in your life will be right there waiting at the end.  In this way, I learned to mourn the losses with an appreciation for the time they spent in my life, because they too had an effect on the woman I am today, as when I was learning my way through this new country, they shouldered the loneliness with me. The loneliness with them and after them was another effect of the roles I had been cast in by life and also added more colour to my characterisation, as I learned how to exist and grow on my own.

In this space for independent existence, my dreams began to cultivate into ambitions and I had the time to delve deeper into my career pursuits and started to develop a path for myself that I hope to reach the end of one day. This path is laced with the goals I have achieved and the goals I believe I will achieve, and I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity, space, time and platform to derive ambitions that I had previously been limited to explore.

So, for this Internal Inspirational Women’s Month scheme, I have chosen to highlight the themes of duty, the burden of responsibility, my emotional connections and disconnections, which have all determined my growth into the smart, resilient and determined young woman I am today. Thank you for your nomination and the consideration, I feel lucky to be part of an organisation willing to highlight the stories of young women like myself”.

Author: Elisheeba Ijekhuemen (Mental Health Keyworker)