Aishatu Musa Dalil has won the British Broadcasting Corporation Hausa short story contest for women with a story on the travails of a girl who was a victim of sexual violence within the family.
According to a release from the BBC Hausa Service, Aishatu, an 18 years old and first year university student of English and French won the contest with her story titled, “Hakkina” which is translated “My Right.”
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“Hakkina tells the story of a young woman, Fatima who is raped by her stepfather and is threatened by her mother not to tell anyone about the abuse. In fact, she locks Fatima in a room despite the injuries she sustained during the assault. To Fatima’s mother, silencing her daughter not only covers for her husband but also ‘protects’ her daughter from the stigma faced by victims of rape in the Hausa society,” the BBC said.
In an Interview with PREMIUM TIMES on 26 November 2021, Aishatu Dalil, a 100 level student of English and French at the Umaru Musa University, Katsina stated:
“My mother was my motivation. I like to write short stories but when this opportunity came, my mother and elder sister insisted that I put it up for the competition, and I did.
When I got a call from the BBC that my story was among the winning stories I was ecstatic. I quickly got down on my knees to give thanks to Allah. I was not expecting to win as I’m a new writer and the competition is known to attract great writers. My family is very proud of me and winning the competition is one of my biggest achievements.”
“The first runner-up is a story written by Nana Aicha Hamissou Abdoulaye. Titled ‘Butulci’ (Betrayal) it is about a young couple whose new marriage and pregnancy news is marred by the sudden horror of kidnapping. The title of the story stems from the events that led up to the kidnapping and the unexpected revelation of the person involved.
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“The second runner-up is ‘Ramat’ by Zulaihat Alhassan. Titled after the protagonist, ‘Ramat’ is a revered police woman whose husband is also in the police. She is caught in a family scandal where she has to choose between her only son and her job,” the organisers of the contest added.
The BBC Hausa women’s short story contest was introduced to give female writers a platform to tell and share their stories.