Life's Compass (IS5)

There is a version of me that many people will never know. Today, listeners hear a confident, measured voice coming through their radio speakers. But long before the microphone, I was a little girl from a humble background silently carrying a pain so heavy it threatened to bury me. I was a child just trying to survive the unimaginable, constantly questioning my worth and wondering if life would ever choose to be kind.

The turning point of that childhood came abruptly when I was just sixteen years old. In what felt like a single heartbeat, I lost both of my parents. Suddenly, I was a double orphan, forced to navigate a world that felt entirely too big and intensely indifferent. The grief didn’t vanish as I crossed into adulthood; instead, it morphed into a quiet insecurity and a persistent fear of rejection that followed me like a shadow. For years, that vulnerability made me a target. I found myself in relationships where I was consistently taken for granted, letting the harsh, careless words of others attempt to define my value.

Of all the wounds inflicted during those tender years, one memory stands out with piercing clarity: the day I was looked in the face and told I was ugly. It was a cruel comment meant to diminish me, and for a long time, it did exactly that. Those words stayed with me for years, ringing in my ears whenever I looked in the mirror. But healing is a slow, rebellious process. Over time, the pain gave way to a profound realisation: beauty is never determined by the fragile opinions of others. True beauty is forged in resilience, anchored in purpose and measured by the strength of one’s character. That realisation birthed a new kind of defiance in me. When I decided to return to school to rewrite my future, the sceptics were waiting. People ridiculed me, laughing at the idea that I could change my trajectory. But I let their laughter be my fuel. I imagine those same critics were left in shocked silence when I didn’t just pass, but became Head Prefect, eventually stepping into university as a Student Ambassador. I proved to them—and more importantly, to myself—that transformation is entirely possible.

Today, the voice that was once choked by self-doubt and sorrow reaches thousands of people every single day through radio broadcasting and journalism. There is a beautiful irony in my career; the very girl who was told she wasn’t enough is now the woman trusted to tell the stories of our world, inspiring others to find their own strength and believe in themselves again.

I am still a work in progress—still healing, still growing and still becoming. My journey is living proof that a humble background does not dictate your future. Loss does not have the power to cancel your purpose, and rejection can never erase your destiny. To anyone sitting in the dark right now, wondering if they will survive their own silent battles, I have only this to say: keep believing, keep healing and keep becoming. Your story is far from over.

Prayer & Hope

To pray means to open your hands before God. It means slowly relaxing the tension which squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend, but as a gift to receive. Above all, prayer is a way of life which allows you to find a stillness in the midst of the world where you open your hands to God's promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbour, and your world. In prayer, you encounter God not only in the small voice and the soft breeze, but also in the midst of the turmoil of the world, in the distress and joy of your neighbour, and in the loneliness of your own heart.

Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you freedom to go and to stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land. Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday mornings or mealtimes. Praying is living. It is eating and drinking, action and rest, teaching and learning, playing and working. Praying pervades every aspect of our lives. It is the unceasing recognition that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and celebrate the divine gift of being alive.