Why I like doing impossible things - Hajiya Halima Hayatu

it is not a dirty game; it is the people that are in it. If the people vote for you, it is desperate politicians that will manipulate it and make sure the woman does not scale through. I have contested three times and the challenge was: “why should we allow a woman to represent us?’’ Life lessons There are a lot of lessons to be learned as you interact with people of different cultures, ideas, religions. For you to fit in, you have to be very versatile, calm, respectful and tolerant. When I was flying, it was the same thing. It was also the same thing when I joined politics. Most rewarding part of your career I will give it back to my flying years. I was having fun and making money at the same time. It was a period in my life that I can never forget. Anytime I reflect on it, it brings me joy and makes me feel fulfilled because of what I achieved at a very young age. Growing up Growing up was tough because my father was a military man. I grew up in the barracks where there were a lot of norms you must obey. Barracks life is very rough. But coming from a Muslim family in the northern part of the country, we also had our own rules, regulations and values to protect. Despite the fact that we were at the barracks we still had to obey the rules, regulations and values of an Islamic family. Combining barracks rules and Islamic values was very tough. But that made us strong and ambitious. Aspirations as a child My aspiration as a child was to fly. There was a day I was sitting outside my house during a holiday and I saw a woman driving a car. I was very surprised because she was the first woman I saw driving. When I told my dad that I had seen a woman driving a car, he said she was part of the women doing men’s job and must be from the South. Deep inside me, I said that one day I would drive my car. I did not want to be a Mubi girl; I liked travelling. My aspirations were to do things differently, things that were impossible, just to show the world that it was possible and a woman could do it. Childhood memories you miss most In the barracks you were made to relate with children of your father’s rank, but anytime we were at home I would see myself relating with my peers freely. There was segregation in the barracks. And we did not step out of the line. Even our mothers mixed with the class of women of their husbands’ ranks. Also, we were only allowed to speak English or Pidgin in the barracks. I cherished that and it will always remain in me. Joy of motherhood That’s a big experience for me because, as an air hostess nobody would even tell you, ‘I love you,’ except your colleagues. And most of them were from the southern part of the country and Christians. I knew it would be very difficult to bring such a person home. I was looking forward to a spouse from the North and a Muslim, and I did not see them. That made me not to get married at an early age. I got married at the age of 35. To have a baby was difficult, maybe because of the age. My first baby came when I was 40, so itwas a bundle of joy. We named her Firdausi because we