Ololade Ajayi is a feminist, human rights defender, podcast host, and award-winning poet. She is the Founder of DOHS Cares Foundation, an organisation that caters to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria. For the #16DaysoOfActivism, Oloade shares a poem from her collection The Rheavolution.
Alone
Stronger together, you say?
Yet alone we are topping trend tables,
Killing the patriarchy while leveraging
On the voices of ancestors who paved the way.
Alone now, we have become international headaches
Who no longer shrink personalities just to appear modest,
We wear stereotypes about our cause with pride
Now that we have discovered
we cannot please oppressors even with submission.
on a daily basis, we preach repentance
but if our gospel is not taken
we will demand the heads of misogynists
on an equal platter of rights,
We are alone, and all we have is #16days
But you will hear us from the Rooftops
Shouting down structures built over time
Disguised as societal norms and values
Dictating our place and pace.
Alone, shouting down structures
No longer afraid.
