I GAVE ONE OF MY TWIN CHILDREN AS A HOUSE-HELP, AND FOR THREE YEARS NOW, I NEVA SEE AM!
Don’t scroll pls, this is her story!
I had placed my order and got served in her open roof ‘bole’ kiosk; Beans and bole (roasted plantain) plus roasted fish staring right at my face. I ate under a ramshackle umbrella which served as a shade for the kiosk, but the taste of her meal was nothing compared to the site of her kiosk. The taste is the difference and the difference is in the taste. lol.
While she sat down to count the money she had made for the day, I heard her mention that she’d be leaving for the market to get yams for the next day’s business. In her soliloquy she added that “her business is simply based on turnover; sell today, spend immediately”.
She tagged her business “from hand to mouth” - No room for saving or investment.
I sat opposite her, as she nagged to herself; so I suggested:
- “Madam instead of going to the market after everyday’s sales, e for beta make you buy the yams and plantains in bulk”. I advised.
Her response extended our conversation just a bit further...
She responded:
- “My dear, na money wey I neva get, nor be say I nor like to buy in bulk o. She continued... “This our business get gain o, but the money nor dey reach me spend because my CHILDREN PLENTY.
Hmmmm, “Children Plenty”; the phrase made me more curious, and I wondered how ‘plenty’ her children were. Then I asked:
Me: “Madam how many children you get”? And she responded: “SEVEN”!
Wow! (I exclaimed) Hmmm! Madam, only you get seven?
She smiled and shook her head in self pity, and she responded:
- “My dear na twins I get o, I born two set of twins(four kids), then as I dey find girl pikin, I kor born three join, nai make my children plenty o. The thing nor easy for me o my sister.”
I felt very emphatic when she mentioned she had four kids from two set of twins cos I’m a twins lover too. 🙇🏻♀️
What of your husband? I enquired.
- “Hmmm, that one, he fit waka commot for three months, he nor care how we take dey survive”! She continued...
...“As I dey now sef, I NOR DEY COUNT MYSELF JOIN PEOPLE WEY GET HUSBAND”.
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| A view of her kiosk during the interview |
She became tearful as she narrated the condition of her last child who is currently struggling with his sight resulting from particles of broken bottles which splashed into his eyes while he was running errands for someone; leaving the eyes itching, red and bulging.
He can barely study with the eye in school, and the painful part is that since the incident occurred in January, till date the little boy still moves about with the bottle particles itching in his eye. Because she could not afford the cost of treatment from the hospital (#80,000) - Eighty thousand naira.
She also narrated how she had to give out one of her twins as a house-help for a wealthy man who makes him work so hard and restricts him from going home. According to her, it’s been three years since she last set her eyes on her son.
I watched her as she lamented and she concluded by saying “I believe say one day God go change my story”. She smiled.
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Some do business to make PROFIT, while others do business just to SURVIVE. This woman belongs to the latter class.
A beautiful hardworking woman. The smoke and sunburn had dealt so much with her face that you could easily tell how much she has suffered. Although it was my first time meeting her, I already perceived her sweetness and it was so much that she sacrificed to roasting plantain under the scorching sun, undaunted by the misgivings of her ‘husband’, just to see that her kids go through school rather than become hooligans in the society,.
There are many unhappy homes still struggling and praying to have at least one child of their own, but here is this woman - ‘madam bole’; she never asked for so many children, but she got more than half a dozen, with a double dose of TWINS in between, leaving her with SEVEN CHILDREN. With no one to help lighten the burden.
A lot of you will be visiting and sending gifts to the orphanage this Christmas, this could be a memorable Christmas gift for this woman and her children. If this touches you in a special kind of way, you can give a helping hand to assist get treatment for her son’s eye situation before it causes so much damage.
You never can tell, you might just be raising tomorrow’s governor or president.
They’ll be forever grateful!
Like I always say: ITS NOT HOW MUCH YOU HAVE, BUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN GIVE! You don’t have to help the whole world, just help one person!
I may not have all the resources alone to support this woman, but thank God social media has done a lot for me in recent times, so I chose to take solace here.
The shots were taken on different occasions as I met her over a month ago and decided to do something like a documentary on her story. So this is my own way of raising awareness about her situation for likeminded people who might be willing to aid her situation.
I intend to help raise some fund so that Chibuike can be taken to the hospital and have his eye condition properly attended to before he loses his sight; and if we’re able to get enough support, set up his mothers business so that she can see her children through school.
Your one thousand naira will go a long way!
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
You can be the answer to her prayers!
Make Christmas worth it!
God Bless You!
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Chibuike and his Mother |
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| Progress Oberiko with Madam 'Bole' |
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| Chibuike with particles of broken bottles in his eyes |
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