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It was 11:30 pm and Ada, a 16 years old girl sat outside at the mercy of an unfriendly weather and multiply groups of creepy insects. She had hoped that her guardian would have a change of heart and let her into the house but her hopes were fast fading. Obviously the woman meant to keep her outside till morning.
It was early January and the harmattan season was in full force. The chilly wind came again fiercely, overwhelming the poor girl and freezing her to her bone marrow. She shivered incessantly, her teeth clattered and cold tears ran down her face. The little piece of wrapper that served as head pad for her daily hustle which she wrapped around her body couldn't do much to prevent the cold that was freezing her to death.
When she left her village to follow madam Gold to the city, she thought her dreams had finally come through. All she wanted was to go to school, have a better life and alleviate the poverty that plagued her family like a generational curse. Little did she know that all that glitters ain't gold.
It had been four years since she left her family to follow madam Gold to the city and was therefore not a stranger to her heartlessness but this was the height of it. How can this woman lock her out under such weather not minding the dare health consequences she was exposed to?
In the past, she had had her hair brutally cut, her feet bathed by hot water and left without food for a whole day because of little unavoidable mistakes. There was a huge scare at her back which she sustained the day madam Gold used a red hot pressing iron on her for spilling her pot of stew. The last four years had been hell for her. To add salt to injury, her redemption seemed to be very far away.
Tonight, she was locked out in the cold for coming back home without the money and remainder of goods she went to sell.
It had been her daily routine to clean, sweep, mop, cook, wash cloths, wash madam Gold's car, prepare her children for school before taking some goods procured by madam Gold to go and hawk. When she returns, more house chores would pile up, calling for her attention.
That day, she was hawking her bananas when a boy called her from an uncompleted building. She had gone to make sells only to realize that there were many other boys in the building. While negotiating with one of them, one grabbed her from the back, fondling her body. She knew instantly that they were going to rape her so she thought fast on how to escape. She bite the hand that held her, causing him to loosen his grip and she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She left her bananas and her money behind as she fled and knew she dare not try to go and retrieve them.
When madam Gold saw that she came back home with nothing, she was furious and had thrown her out of the house with the instruction not to return until she recovers everything till the last kobo..
Madam Gold had seen her in her village four years ago as a 12 years old girl playing with her mates. She had gone to meet with her dad who was down with kidney infection and declared her intentions to take Ada with her to the city. She promised to send her to school and also help them financially.
Her dad and mum were happy that their daughter would have a better life that they couldn't offer her though they were sad to lose her. Madam Gold had promised to be sending her home yearly to come and see them. They had prepared Ada on the day she came to pick her up. She dropped some money for them and Ada excitedly went into the car, eager to embark on the journey to self transformation.
It was when they got to her house in the city and she was instructed to keep her things in the parking store as well as given an old mat to spread over the floor of the store for her night rest that she knew she was facing a situation different from what she bargained for.
From the following day, her journey into modern day slavery had started. The house chores were too much for her age. She also experienced excruciating hunger in the midst of plenty. She only ate the left overs from the plate of Madam Gold and her children.
Six months into her stay with Madam Gold, she never made any mention of sending her to school as she promised. When she braced up and asked her about it, she had responded with a slap and warned her never to mentioned anything about schooling to her again. But how could she when it was the only thing that convinced her to follow her at the first place?
She felt the woman might be in a bad mood that day so she had decided to lie low for a while and present her case later. When she later asked her about it again, Madam Gold had returned home the following day with a tray and some goods and instructed her to go into the streets and hawk, stressing that it was because she had nothing to do that's why she talks about school. Thus, hawking was added to her ever increasing list of responsibilities.
For the past four years, she hasn't gone home nor spoken to any of her family members on phone. She hoped that one day, madam Gold would take her home. She had even forgotten the name of her village. Oh! It shall never be well with poverty! Her parents desperation to ease their burden made them give her out to a complete stranger and there was no way they could trace her now.
She had stayed outside for the whole night and by morning, she was down with serious fever. Madam Gold had opened her door to see her in the front corridor shivering like a fowl beaten by a heavy downpour. That was obviously not her concern as she went over to where she sat.
"Where is the money?" She asked in such a voice that suggested danger.
TO BE CONTINUED
Story by McJellof
(pictures were taken by me... Unless stated otherwise)
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