One incident I remember the most,
Is when my maternal uncle hit me because of my mother.
My mother is not an easy going woman.
My uncle’s wife was insulting my mother in her presence.
I tried to talk back,
But my mother told me not to.
I couldn’t stay quiet,
So I asked my uncle’s wife,
“Why are you insulting my mother?”

Was my mother going to stay quiet?
Of course not.
As soon as she went to her parents’ house,
She told her brother.
“People will think I didn’t raise her properly.
You know it’s the mother that gets blamed for her daughters’ bad manners.”
My uncle has an apartment in the same building.
“Let’s go water the plants,” he told me.
I went with him.

Turns out he had a hose,
That he bent down the middle,
And used to beat me up with.
I couldn’t get out of bed for three days.
Ever since then,
Whenever I see plants,
I remember him.
And ever since then,
I’ve been afraid of plants and the dark.

Who do I hit?
I hit no one but my children.
Sometimes I drag Noha home by her hair.
I have a hose,
That I bend in half,
And use to hit Sara and Noha with.
The person I wish I could hit is my brother.
He took so much from me.
And I can’t take anything from him.
He comes to visit,
And drops arrogant comments like,
“What kind of apartment is this?”
“What kind of furniture is that?”

One time I asked him to lend me 2,000 EGP,
He made a scene,
And hit me,
And sent me back home.
“When your husband is no longer there, I’ll lend you the money,”
He told me.
I wanted to hit him.
When things get rough,
I pray to God that he lives to see his sons doing the same thing to his daughters,
So that he could feel the pain of it.