Once upon a time there was a young lady named Lidia who had become an orphan at the age of 12. This is a very critical moment for a child especially in a country where social assistance is as poor as the people who are willing to help. The majority of the neighbours thought that this was the end of her school time because she had to provide for her two little brothers. In the beginning she had the support of the neighbours but after three months she started a small business of selling water. These were the early signs of her greatness.
Like any other business she struggled at the beginning to find her place at the market. Per day she was just earning between 4 and 50 meticais or simply less than 1 dollar. When everything seemed to become even harder she was there with her strong mentality.
With the little money she was earning she could at least guarantee breakfast or dinner depending on how successful she was on a day and still buy exercise books for her school. In Mozambique the most common attitude when you are confronted with this kind of reality is first of all to quit your studies so that you can look for a job.
Fortunately, the little Lidia could carry on with her studies; it took some years for God to reward that little fighter. After two years an Indian businessman heard about her fairytale which touched him so much that he decided to help her.
Mr Bavech sponsored her studies and opened a small shop for her. Now the great Lidia is being trained as a nurse, the shop is still running, one of her bothers is attending grade 9 and the other one grade 7.
By David Messias
David Messias is an English student at Universidade Pedagogica in Maxixe, Mozambique. The story A Born Fighter is the first in a series of stories called Let it Be. Let it Be because David was told he might not succeed in writing stories. Although he had doubts himself, David decided to let it be and see what would happen.