The Struggle of the Girl Child

                        The Struggle

                     of the Girl Child

                     (a short story)

                               By

                 

                    Lene Ododomu

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Amara was born into a very poor family and had many bitter experiences about the difficulty of life. On the day she was born, her father, Obinna, who is a palmwine tapper was in the  market selling his palmwine which he use to cater for the family. Because of his absence, his younger brother, Uche,  was the one who borrowed money to buy drinks and little money to give to the midwives for prayers because he doesn't have a living too but also feed from the brother's pot. But when Obinna returns, he was told of his wife's delivery and the money borrowed to  do the needful by Uche and he managed to pay half of the money and promised to complete rest when get more money from his business.

Due to the situation of where they live in their own land at Akwaibom, Obinna decided to relocate to Lagos thinking that things will get better for them. He was told by a friend that the palmwine business is very lucrative at Ekpe, Lagos state where area boys reside. So he took his family and relocated to Ekpe to continue his palmwine business and make things better for his family. Before they relocated, Amara was already four years old and she also had two siblings.

Things became contrary to the expectation of Obinna and his family because the business could not sustain him to feed the family and pay house rent and the place they live is a very local area whereby the buildings are built with ordinary bamboo and plank. It happens that where they were in their own village was far better than the new resident because they were living in their own house built by Obinna's father who is late but projected Obinna to inherit the house because he is the first son.

 Amara could not wait for her parents to do everything by taking care of the family, so she decides to go to the street and hustle for money and she was just five years without education. She is a good dancer, so she will stands at the street, play music and started dancing to entertain people which makes them to  give her money. With this talent of her, she started going to one location to another, including market and entertains people with her dancing skill and every day she makes a lot of money, so she started sponsoring herself in school from the money she earns from her dancing and also supports the mother to establish little business to sell agbo. The aim of the mother to sell the agbo is because of the street boys who use it for smoking and also it is prefer to drink by the local people for medical purpose who don't have money to afford hospital medication. So the mother built a small joint where people come every day to patronize her. But due to the expansion of the family by having additional children, things were not OK for Obinna and his wife, Amarachi, to cater for the family and this was caused by the inability of Amara to further support the family because of the accident she had and was advised by doctor not to continue her dancing till one year time.

Amara made up her mind to reduce the load of the family by relocating to live with her boyfriend, Bayo who is also a dancer that entertain people to get money just like Amara. Amara believe that staying with the boyfriend will even make it easier to achieve her dream because Bayo will motivate and reinforce aspiration to achieve the feat of making it in life. The parents did not complain of her staying with Bayo but rather grateful and pray for them to have a better life.

Ayomide, Amara's friend came to her and wish to help her because Amara told her that she was in need of job and she came on the day that Amara was preparing to join Bayo on a dancing show because the time gave to her by the doctor has completed to continue her dancing. But Ayomide was not comfortable with Amara for living a retrogressive life with Bayo according to her,

"Are you not tired of this life you are living? This retrogressive life style. At least you are 20 years old now and have been living with Bayo for two years with this your so called dancing" said Ayomide.

"But at least I am surviving with it and it is better than stealing" replied Amara.

"She you. Let me tell you there's nothing differentiate you from one who steals. For the fact that you entertain people with dancing without them asking you, it means that you are a beggar and a street hawker. Do you know what a street hawker means?" asked Ayomide.

"No" replied Amara.

"You see.....and you are little bit educated than me as I know you write from our secondary school days when you always have As in most of the subjects. Street hawker means one who sells in the street and sometimes collect money from people's pucket according to ghetto interpretation" said Ayomide.

"Is you that know that one because at least I am living in the ghetto for many years and I don't see entertaining people in the street to get money as a synonymous word with street hawk" replied Amara.

"Be there speaking English, I have told you my own. Meanwhile, I visited you today to tell you that I have gotten you a job that will change your life and the narrative of your family" said Ayomide.

Amara broke into silence before responding to her with excitement,

"Are you serious?" asked Amara as she hurriedly hugged her.

"Yes na because I am here to prank you" replied Ayomide.

"Thank you oo better pikin" said Amara.

"Oh so you remembered to use ghetto language. You ba" replied Ayomide as she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"Leave me jare. At least I was not born into the ghetto, the ghetto only helped by accommodating me due to the wickedness of leadership of Nigeria. There is no place in government office that is not infected with the deseases of corruption. Just like this saying by Ijaw people which I learnt from Perelatei who is from Arogbo Ondo state that lives in the next compound that it was spoiled from above which is the celestial body to the earth. By this the Ijaw people are referring to the corrupt mind of Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit that brought the earth corrupt mind. This, however, is a symbol of Nigerian government whereby the people on top of the government infect the lower ones with their corrupt mind. You will not believe what I experienced just two days ago, that I went for an interview in one local hotel and the manager requested to sleep with me and just that he further requested that I must be given him 5 percent of my salary which I jettisoned and promised my good self never to go there again. What annoys me most is that we the commoners take advantage of many things and use them to frustrate us. I wanted to withdraw N700 naira that was sent to me by one of my friends and the POS agent asked to pay a charge of N300 because of the scarcity of cash. I cried because I was not having anything on me and me and Bayo were hoping to use  the money to sustain ourselves for the day. But I thank God that I am still alive. But let me know the kind of job you have for me" said Amara.

"Well, a very good job with a white man in Accra Ghana" replied Ayomide.

"Wow! You mean it?" asked Amara.

"Yes and he wants me to prepare your visa immediately after today" replied Amara.

"Oh! I can't wait, my dear friend" replied Amara.

Amara had a dream and was visited by her late grand mother who put a mark on her forehead when she was a baby and promised to watch over her from the land of the death. The grand mother reveals to her that Ayomide intension of giving her a job is not from her clear heart but she is planning to sell her to the whitman for prostitution. Amara woke up immediately the grand mother disappeared in the dream. She was visited by Ayomide with the traveling visa but she indirectly told her that she is no longer interested in the job and Ayomide begs her seriously but she told her told her that her mind is already made up and nothing can change it.

"You will die in poverty"  said Ayomide with angry voice.

"I rather die in poverty than becoming a successful thief" replied Amara.

"You will be buried by the same poor people then" replied Ayomide.

"I love to be buried by the poor e too because I was not even born with a silver spoon so why I'm I expect people that are born with silver spoon to bury me. But let me tell you I have hope in the future and it is my patients and not rusting into the pleasures of the world it what will take me there. We all know the story narrated by Chinua Achebe, the father of modern African literature that the elders of Umuofia advised Obi Okonkwo not to be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world like the young antelope who danced herself lame when the main dance was yet to start. I learnt a lot from this and I will always follow the advice to achieve my dream" said Amara.

"Keep it for yourself then" replied Ayomide who walks away with anger.

Amara was not sake by her behavior but instead have more courage to do the right thing to succeed despite situation she finds herself by living in the ghetto.

One afternoon when Amara was washing clothes, Kunle, the son of the king of the ghetto called Ade ran to her informed her by using ghetto language with Yoruba that a celebrity called Mariama in the street recording the boys who have talent of both singing and dancing and plan to relocate them from the street to live a better life. Immediately Kunle done talking, Amara ran after him to meet Mariama to participate in the street display of taken to Mariama.

Mariama was dancing when the first performer called Ademola aka Jaja waa singing according to the free style played for him and she was happy for having a joyful time with street boys and girls. However, she became more happy when Amara displays her two talents for both singing and dancing and she became more interested to help Amara. So she invited her to her business center where she sells drinks, shawarma, meat pies and all others things related to snacks for interview. But before the invitation for the interview, Mariama cried when Amara sings a song that was so emotional. She sings about ghetto life of how people are homeless, dying of hunger, young ladies turning themselves into prostitution, begging in the street due to a victim of circumstances. She ended by thanking the ghetto for accommodating her to at least sustains her life.

When Amara visited Mariama in her business center, she asks her to narrate her story which she did by revealing how faces many challenges while trying to save her breath in life.

"Who do you say you are staying with in the ghetto?" asked Mariama.

"With my boyfriend" replied Amara.

"Are your parents aware of your stay with him?" asked Mariama.

"Yes, they are aware. Infact they are happy because he is a God's sent gives me oxygen to breathe" replied.

"Okay. But how long have you been living with him and what's his name?" asked Mariama.

"Two years and his name is Abiodun" replied Amara.

"How old are you?" asked Mariama.

"Twenty years" replied Amara.

"Wow! Which means you have been living with Abiodun since when you were 18 years, right?" asked Mariama.

"Yes ma'am" replied Amara.

"That's good. What's his occupation?" asked Mariama.

"He's a dancer like me" replied Amara with smiling face.

"That's great" said Mariama.

"Yes ma" replied Amara with still the smiling face.

"Brief your experience about the ghetto life" said Mariama.

"Well, ghetto life has not been easy ooo but still I must be grateful to it for accommodating me. There are experiences I had and very bad ones but a hunter cannot tell everything he sees in the forest" replied Amara.

"Tell me just one or two" said Mariama.

"Well, for the fact that we faced physical challenges, there are still spiritual challenges too" replied Amara.

"Spiritual challenges?" asked Mariama.

"Yes, ma'am. What I mean is that we have witches in the street that sometimes they will come and try to attack us in our dreams but my grand mother put a mark on my forehead when I was a baby that no one born of a woman cannot destroy me, so the witches always run from me when trying to attack me. Secondly, because we don't have money to pay house rent, me and my boyfriend sleep outside the house when our landlord lock us outside. We will stay at night sometimes without closing our eyes to avoid being rubbed by other dangerous street boys" replied Amara with tears and was consoles by Mariama by trying to clean up the tears.

"I think I won't interview you more than this. I will accommodate you and make you one of my team as skit making. I will also support your education into ph.d level and establish business for your parents and relocate them to the city, including your boyfriend" said Mariama.

However, Amara became so excited and promised to be grateful to Mariama for changing her life for good. She visited her parents with Mariama and told them everything. So they relocate from the local Ekpe to Banana high land in Lagos state. They started their business and also started living a good life.