Being a single mother is a two-way traffic – meaning that you must juggle between household responsibilities alone, work, childcare and carry the weight of two parents at the same time.

In Namibia, we have got brave women who endured the hardship of raising children alone, not simply because it is what they want but appears to be caused by many circumstances which are sometimes difficult to mitigate, such as untimely death, cultural norms, laws-like protection orders, divorce, just to mention a few.

While the road of single motherhood is filled with love and personal growth,it carries challenges that might drag them to be caught up in worldly things that have no positive impact on their lives, due to the fact that sometimes they try by all means to find ways of survival, such as drugs, alcohol, crime, dropping out of school, prostitution…The list goes on.

I am sure that no child out there would want or choose to be raised by one parent, because a child raised by both parents plays a significant role in shaping the character of a child by giving a different perspective on life of a child and build resilience.

Unseen battles and sacrifices

Single mothers make sure that their children have school uniforms and always prepare food for their children. Mothers often go out of their way to escort their children to school and do homework. They completely give up their precious personal dreams, be it temporarily or permanently, to ensure their child’s dreams are achieved without delayed.

Challenges faced by single mothers

1.Name labelling: Some may label boys raised by single mothers as “mama’s boys; suggesting that such upbringing may hinder their growth.

2.Financial burden: Single mothers struggle to get financial support to sustain their children’s needs, such as buying clothes, food and all the necessary support for a child to get a proper upbringing, because there is no one standing there for them.

3.Judgement: Sometimes single mothers face judgement from society and people unfairly and based on prejudice, as they are the root cause of the situation they are going through and which leads to depression and consequences of mental illness.

A call for parents: Raising children together, if there is a man out there having a child that is being raised by a single mother, I do have advice for you:

Share responsibilities equally. Parenting is all about sharing responsibilities, and it’s more about helping a child to endure both cognitive and physical challenges, such as taking child to school etc.

Finally, single mother deserve support for all of us because they are the warriors who never surrender to take care of their children, no matter the circumstances they are going through, or like many cowards who are ready to throw in their towel when they are moving towards the banks of their victory.

*Monika Shafuda is a founder of Good Seed Day Care and Kindergarten in Evululuko informal settlement-Oshakati