Title: THE FORTUNATE DAUGHTER
“Ene na you Sabi o…my hand no dey o (I’m not involved o)”, count me out and please, don’t ever mention my name again because as from this very moment I don’t know you and you’d better not know me o, if not you will see the ugliest side of me, and “I can bet you can’t handle it”said Ojoma.
Hi my name is Ene, I am the only child of my parents, and this is my story.
I got admission into the prestigious Kogi State University Ayangba in the year 2011, to study Theater Art in faculty of Art and Humanity.
I was so elated when I saw the course I was offered to study because it was my dream and aspiration. I was filled with so much joy and happiness that I couldn’t wait to tell my parents about the admission and curse I was given to study.
I ran back home with full speed from the computer center where I printed my admission letter to give my parents the good news, but immediately I got to my compound I saw people gathered, some were crying, others carrying sad faces with folded arms. Immediately I searched for familiar faces and saw few which were my uncles and his wives, but before I could utter a word I heard my mother scream so loud in pain and agony, almost immediately the admission letter I was holding dropped from my hand, and i sprinted into the parlor to see my mother on the floor in sorrow, crying and wailing, calling on my father to wake up, while some women were holding and comforting her. I walked slowly to my father’s bedroom to find him lying dead on his bed, at that moment I knew my hope has been shattered, I went close to his corpse, touched him and felt his body was cold on my touch, at that moment I blacked out, only to be woken by the pleas of my mother not to leave her alone in this world.
I cried and cried, I pleaded to the creator to have pity on us and revive my father, I prayed and made pledges, but yet my father never returned, then I gave up and accepted my faith.
I knew my father was sick and bedridden but, I never expected to loose him so soon. He was our only means of survival because, his brothers only gives us food, money and other things we needed only because my father was alive, and he was the one who trained them and saw them through school and made sure they are where they are today. And now that he is no more, my mother and I will suffer greatly because they hated us with passion.
A month later, we were done with my father’s burial and a family meeting was held in our parlor, my father’s two younger brothers stated clearly that they don’t have anything to do with my mother and I anymore, and that my mother and I should cater for ourselves and should on no circumstances reach out to them for help, stating that the house we are staying which my father built was enough, I tried to ask them what we did, but i was given a thunderous slap on my face for daring to speak and was called an outcast (slave). My mother stood up and held me immediately crying and begging them not to hit me again, I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t say a word till they all left.
Few hours later I was still thinking when I approached my mom to ask her why I was refered to as slave, that was when she told me everything, about how they refused and fought my father not to marry her because the village where she came from were referred to as slave community, but my father stood his ground and went ahead to marry her against their wish.
I felt bad and more sorry for my mother because I could still see and feel the pains and suffering she was going through, I hugged her and promised her that all will be well soon.
Very early in the morning the next day, a neighbor from the next compound visited, she brought a piece of paper with her, saying it belonged to me while giving it to my mother, my mother received it, opened the paper and saw that it was a printout of my admission letter, immediately she screamed my name and I came running from the backyard where I was trying to make breakfast for us to eat as we ate nothing the previous night, she hugged me immediately I got to her and showed me the paper, I took it and saw that it was the printout I made, tears started coming out of my eyes because I totally forgot I had gotten admission.
Our neighbor stood there watching us and all smiles finally said God has given us an opportunity to prove people wrong.
We thanked her and she left, while my mother and I went to the backyard to continue cooking. Suddenly my mother held me and made a promise to me holding her b****t that she will make sure I go to the university at any cost even if it means selling everything she has, and that was exactly what she did.
TO BE CONTINUED.
story written by Francisca Ejura Isaac
