Same morning, same day as I birthed my son.
Blessing came in few hours after I was done screaming, sweating from extreme cold and pushing. She came in to do her turn of screaming, sweating and pushing. Not one of us thought she could do it when we heard the gist surrounding her arrival at the hospital but Allah – Azza wa Jal – has His ways.
She had been brought in semi-conscious. Clothes and hair stained with blood and mud. The mud stain was explained when we learnt from the nurses, later on, that she had been slipping into unconsciousness. We learned she had been taken to a TBA* before being brought to the hospital when things got out of hands. Whether the TBA was registered or not, we didn’t know.
Those of us in the maternity ward, holding our bundles of joy or looking at them in their cots, really didn’t care. We just wanted her to survive the ordeal and with her baby.
I remembered praying fervently with lips dry from my own just ended session on the table. Oh! I prayed with the whole of my heart for her. I wasn’t even done saying my so many lines of prayers when we heard a tired grunt and the squeal of a new born.
Chukwuemeka, Blessing’s baby was born.
How we rejoiced in the ward that morning. Her mother who had taken to revealing the family secrets on account of her fear for her daughter’s life immediately had a new song in her mouth.
When she was brought into the ward about an hour later on her feet, though assisted, we all stared mouth agape.
Blessing is 14 years old. She hawks “yellow buns” for her mother and that was how she got pregnant. So we heard! The father of her baby had absconded. Only her mother and sisters now stood by her.
I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I wept for fear of the unknown.
Blessing had no idea how to hold the breast to her baby’s mouth. She had no idea how to hold Chukwuemeka’s head correctly and because she was so young, she tired easily. This was understandable for she had just been through something that still scared old women like me.
When she tried to nurse her baby lying down, she was yelled at by the nurses who labelled her lazy.
A 14 year old mother! Lazy? Each time they leave, I’d go to her, speak gentle words and see that she smiled before I left her alone. Her mother, single parent too, couldn’t meet the hospital requirements. We gave her from ours. Cotton wool, beverages, food, sanitary pads, under-lays for her bed etc.
Ah! I wept for Blessing. I wept for opportunities missed out on. I wept out of fear for her future. She caught me staring at her several times and must have been wondering what I was thinking. In the 3 days I spent at the hospital, I almost went out of my mind wondering what the future held for sweet little Chukwuemeka and Blessing. That was 7 months ago.
Yesterday, on my way to work, a baby in a woman’s arms caught my attention, then I saw the “show glass” of “yellow buns” and when I looked up to complete the sequence, I saw an almost familiar face, wasn’t so sure and it was the baby’s back I saw. I made a mental note to look again because the “yellow buns” had caught my attention.
When my bus stopped at Luwasa Bus Stop this morning, I looked out of the window to stop myself from hissing for the bus was stopping at almost every bus stop since we got on the bus. So I looked out the window, and there was Blessing chatting away happily with an older woman, her “show glass” of “yellow buns” before her. The other older woman had a baby sitting on her hips but when I looked closely the bay looked older than my 7 month old baby.
At this time, the bus slowly pulled away from the road side and we moved on. I was prepared this time to look at the same place I looked at yesterday.
Same place, same time. Blessing’s mother’s face was the almost unfamiliar face I had seen yesterday. Today, the bus stopped again at that bus stop. I saw her clearly now. She was kissing and hugging Chukwuemeka. She had love in her eyes and smile for Chukwuemeka but that’s not what I’m talking about.
What does the future hold? For Blessing and Chukwuemeka? For both have distinct destinies.
Blessing should be in school, not back on the streets where she was first impregnated. I made sure she saw me this morning and we waved at each other with smiles, remembering. I’ll be seeing and talking to her soon and I’ll keep you posted.
Welcome to my li’l tree house.
mojisolaadebola 