“You stupid girl!”
“You’re so pretty, but you can’t read. What are you going to do when you grow up?”
“Become a scavenger?”
Silence.
Anastasya closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face. She still remembered that heartbreaking, agonizing incident, when she had been bullied by her peers back when she was a teenager.
On the one hand, they were educated schoolgirls. On the other, those girls had no hearts and had crushed Anastasya’s dignity with words that hurt so deeply.
That dark event was still etched in Anastasya’s memory to this day.
She knew how difficult things were for her, but she held on and tried to keep living for her mother and younger sibling.
Anastasya was already twenty years old, yet she still couldn’t read or write because she had never attended school since childhood. That was because her father couldn’t afford to send her to school.
Her father was unemployed. He had no steady job and was sometimes forced to scavenge for recyclables just to put food on the table. That was why their life was filled with hardship.
When Anastasya turned ten, her younger sibling was born. But misfortune struck Anastasya again, because her father passed away after struggling against an illness in his stomach.
At that time, Anastasya could only bear her grief and, whether she wanted to or not, accept that she was now fatherless. But when she saw her baby sibling and her grieving mother, Anastasya refused to sink into despair. She wanted to earn money for her mother and younger sibling.
So she would do any job as long as she could earn money, from working as a laundry worker and ironing the neighbors’ clothes to helping wash dishes at a restaurant.
She had already gone through all those bitter experiences by the time she met children her own age who bullied her because she couldn’t read like they could. They mocked her so easily, but she never told her mother. She knew she was only a poor girl, imperfect compared to them. Even so, she remained grateful to have a mother who always gave her strength.
“Sweetheart, what are you thinking about?” her mother asked, pulling Anastasya out of her reverie.
Anastasya wiped away her tears, trying to hide all the pain she had endured, then tried to smile at her mother.
“It’s nothing, Mom. I was just thinking about Dad,” Anastasya said to her mother.
Her mother was immediately moved by her daughter’s words and gently rubbed Anastasya’s back.
“Your father is in heaven now, Tasya. You have to be patient,” her mother said, trying to comfort her.
“Yes, Mom,” Anastasya replied. All she could send her father were her prayers.
One day, after returning from the market, Anastasya heard from a neighbor that the Abraham family was hiring a female maid for their household.
Anastasya was extremely interested in the information, so she told her mother.
“Mom, I’m going to the capital,” Anastasya said, setting the groceries down on the kitchen table.
“Okay. But what are you going to do there, Sweetheart? Is there something you want to buy?” her mother asked.
Anastasya shook her head, then answered, “I’m going to work, Mom.”
Her mother immediately grew worried because Anastasya would be leaving her with Bianka, her other child, who was still in elementary school.
Her mother also knew that her firstborn was an ignorant girl when it came to reading and writing. That was why she had never allowed Anastasya to go far from her.
As a result, Anastasya became a stay-at-home girl who was always helping her mother earn money and support their lives. But what would happen if she went to the capital?
Of course, that made her mother even more worried. Anastasya had no education and had never attended school—what would happen if the people there found out about that?
On the other hand, Anastasya didn’t want her younger sibling to end up like her, growing into an ignorant child who couldn’t read or write. That was why Anastasya was determined to send her sibling to school, even if it meant supporting her all the way through college. But that was the reality of life. While she was still young, Anastasya would earn money for her mother and younger sibling, hoping Bianka could grow up to be successful. That was Anastasya’s only hope and prayer at that moment.
“Where are you going to work, Tasya?” Murni, her mother, asked.
“At Mr. Abraham’s house, Mom,” Anastasya replied.
Her mother was instantly shocked when she heard that.
“What? At that rich man’s house?” Murni asked, disbelief written across her face.