Life of a Woman series is a real-life experience of different Nigerian women who have found courage in sharing their stories on this platform, with the aim of inspiring other women into becoming better versions.
Let me officially welcome you to another inspiring weekly The African Woman Blog Series – TAWBS.
TAWBS is mainly to inspire you. Welcome!
The African Woman Blog Series: Life of a Woman – EP 16
#unedited
I fell sick constantly. There were days I didn’t even have the strength to be on my feet to do anything, but I had to get up because my Aunt didn’t want to hear any excuses. There was never a time that I was ill that it mattered to my Aunt and her children for me not to do any chores.
In fact, that was when I would even do more around the house. But this time, it was different. It was like I wasn’t in control of my body. The fact that my Aunt was the one that woke me up from the corner that I used to sleep in was a free ticket to serious beating that morning. I tried to explain to her that I wasn’t feeling well but she kept on beating me with one of Chike’s belts.
She said I wasn’t the only one who would fall ill in this life, that it was just an excuse for me not to do what needed to be done around the house. she said even if I was not well, who was I expecting to do my work? Her children or she?
The African Woman Blog Series: Life of a Woman – EP 16
Related: The African Woman Blog Series: Life of a Woman – EP 15
As each belt stroke landed on my body, it felt like it was taking the life out of me. I pleaded that I was dying. I pleaded that I couldn’t breathe anymore. But she kept on lashing the belt at me. A stroke landed on my head and that was all I remembered.
I woke up in the hospital with drips on me. There was a doctor and a nurse by my bedside alongside my Aunt who suddenly seemed caring. The doctor told her that I needed to take things easy with my condition if she didn’t want to lose me. I later heard that I was pregnant.
How?
Then I remembered Uncle Gozie. What he did to me. How would I be able to convince my Aunt that I was raped by our neighbour? She definitely was going to kill me. But with the way my Aunt was, I felt maybe she had changed.
Throughout my one-week stay at the hospital, she brought food, she brought a change of clothing and even helped me to the bathroom to shower. She stood by my bedside and took care of me.
Although, it didn’t feel right, but it was good that for once my Aunt saw me as a human being. But immediately when we got home from the hospital, I received a hot slap on the back of my neck.
She started yelling and telling everyone that cared to listen that she had caught me with several men in the past and that all her effort to ensure that I became somebody in life had become futile. She said it was not under her roof that I would carry a bastard. She sent me packing.
The African Woman Blog Series: Life of a Woman – EP 16
Related: The African Woman Blog Series: Life of a Woman – EP 14
I was 15 years old carrying a child with nowhere to go. I didn’t know what to do. I just kept on going. I would walk around and sleep anywhere night met me for a long time. I would beg for money on the road just to feed myself. Some would help while some would look at me that I should go and look for work to do as I was an able-bodied human being.
Later, I started carrying loads at the popular Ogige market in Enugu. I would carry loads for people during the day and sleep in front of an empty shop at night. Until one of the night guards saw me and said it wasn’t safe for a pregnant woman to sleep outside. He offered to help by asking me to move into his house.
I was sceptical at first since someone offering to help was what landed me in trouble in the first place. But I was already heavily pregnant, what else could happen except if the person wanted to kill me. And truth be told, I was ready to die. I just didn’t have the courage to do it myself.
Chijioke (Not the real name) was living in a room and a parlour built almost on the outskirts of town. He had a fence around the land inherited from his father where his small house was in one corner while he used a better part of the land to farm.
He was an unmarried 37yrs old man living alone. He was kind to me. He made me stop going to carry loads for people at the market so I focused on working at the farm. I gave birth to a baby girl.
To be continued……
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P.S. Their sessions with you is definitely not for free.
