First Day, First Doubts.
The gate of Crescent University loomed like a threshold between two lives. Amina Adamu stood still for a moment, clutching her course registration file in one hand and adjusting her jalbab with the other. It was a deep olive green today, the colour her mother always said brought out her eyes.
The campus buzzed with life. Girls in light jeans, boys shouldered past in packs with confidence. No one looked like her. No one felt like her.
She had worn the hijab since she was thirteen, long enough for it to feel like skin. But lately, it felt like armor too. Not against men’s eyes, or the sun, or even the stares. But against the voice inside her that had begun to ask, "Why?"
She walked on, each step careful, as if too much noise might draw attention to the cloth on her head.
“You wear it for Allah, not them,” her mother always said.
“But do I?”Amina thought.
She was not sure anymore.
Amina continued walking slowly toward the main gate, her heart still pounding with anxiety. The wide campus buzzed with activity, students laughing, cars pulling in, announcements blaring faintly from distant speakers. It all felt overwhelming.
“Will I really fit in here? Will I cope with this new life?” she wondered, clutching...