The Vulnerable Girl Child who is an Orphan or Fatherless The vulnerable girl child in the above context, is a girl from age 1 to 15, who have lost her parents or father in one way or another. At the barest minimum, 'she' lacks a real father figure in her life. The above situation further complicated by being born into a less privileged home in a rural African community. When neglected, and ‘she’ grows up eventually, ‘she’ will mostly likely be unable to articulate ‘her’ own desires and passion, and rarely develops self-confidence due to a cycle of denials of some fundamental rights. She consequently becomes afraid of everything, even life itself. Such a girl would most likely retreat into herself because of harsh judgement by the environment ‘she’ grew in, and may never reach ‘her’ full potential. As is the norm in most African societies, 'she' is often passed from one family member to another or may end up living under a horrendous environment as a house help. ‘She’ is most prone to denials and abuses. From the denial of a healthy nutrition necessary for a healthy life to the denial of the basic and primary necessities to grow into a healthy and educated woman. From being predisposed to sexual abuse by uncles, masters or whatever is the term attached to the father of the house in which ‘she’ is serving as a maid, to the streets where ‘she’ may have been forced to hawk to earn a living and support ‘her’ widowed uneducated mother. Her life for no fault of hers is often one of discrimination at homes and households in which ‘she’ finds herself. She is highly susceptible to psychological, emotional and ultimately physical rape. Beyond the vagaries of the girl child who is an orphan or fatherless in Africa, research also shows that they are likely to be infected with HIV and AIDS; are more easily and deceptively lured into being trafficked; are most likely to end up to be drug users and prostitutes; and ultimately becoming teen mothers with unknown fathers from unwanted pregnancies thereby continuing a cycle of fatherless girl children in worse off condition than themselves. And these are if they are lucky to survive attempted abortions often sought from quacks. It therefore becomes of paramount importance to constantly seek ways to create awareness of the above situation as well as consciously and actively assist ‘her’ by creating channels where 'she' can conveniently and securely escape the cycle of violence, abuse and deprivations and get through to the help 'she' so urgently needs; a channel that will assist in ‘her’ basic education; a channel where she can feel safe to talk about any kind of abuse and a channel where she can be groomed into becoming an independent mother that positively contributes to the growth of ‘her’ community. While being aware that this consciousness is not a novelty that has never been articulated, nor is it a virgin land where no action has ever been taken, I would like to think that it is an area where every available hand is a priceless hand. I will, therefore, like within my capacity, and backed with my experience as a woman that was widowed with a single child early in life, to offer my impoverished though priceless hand in this dimension. #Africa4Her #bloomingorchidsinitiative