The Travails of Mma

As a soft August rain pitter-pattered on the roof top of a cottage hospital in the small town of Kuda, a baby’s cry echoed from the delivery ward. It was its first cry.

Claps and sounds of laughter rented the air. The mother of the baby-a beautiful woman in her early thirties- gave a sharp inward breath through her nose, as if assailed by a sudden twinge of joyful pain. Her nine months of carrying a life in her womb is finally over.

She blinked away tears. Tears of joy off course. The doctor handed her the baby, “it’s a girl,” he informed her. She took her from the doctor with a compelled smile to her lips but the two vertical lines between her eyebrows gave her away. She was surprised but trying to maintain her cool.

After birthing two girls already, all she wanted next was a boy. She stared at the baby in confusion recalling that the two scans she had before the delivery showed that the foetus in her womb was a boy. ‘’what happened?’’ she asked but no sound came out of her mouth

She nestled the baby into her arms and inserted her nipple in her mouth. The baby suckled her breast with such ferocity that could only be compared to a hungry lion. 

While all this went on in the delivery room, a man was in the waiting room with his chin balanced on his hand and his mind far away. He was in deep thoughts. His wife has gone through hell in the nine months of her pregnancy and he felt guilty for being the one behind her pains. He chewed the inside of his cheek and gazed at the door separating his wife and him. The two worlds were big and widely apart.

In nano-minutes, the doctor came out of the delivery room beaming on all side with smiles. Bad news does not precede smiles, do they? He stood impulsively from the creaking chair and turned to the approaching doctor, searching his eyes for any bad news but when he saw none he sighed with relief. It must be good news, he thought.

“Congratulations Eng. John,’’ the doctor said shaking hands with him.  

“Your wife has just been delivered of a baby girl.”

Thank God!” He exclaimed, popping his eye balls like Saka when he told us he had ported to MTN. All his fears took wings and fled away.

“Can I see them now?” he asked, excitedly.

 “Yes, please,” the doctor replied.

Waffling the fragrance of Chris Adams, he entered the delivery room unable to curtail his joy. He found his wife lying on her back in a white crystal bed and in that instance he felt a sudden urge to kiss the hell out of her.

He walked to her and pecked her passionately on her chubby cheeks. One peck for each cheek. She was exhausted to the point of numbness but she was still a freaking beauty queen.

‘’You look more beautiful than any woman’s got a right to be,’’ he said to her. She allowed herself a small smile and starred at him with thankful eyes.

“You know what?” He said with his hand searching for something in his trouser pocket.

“What is it, sweetness?” She asked, almost in whisper. 

He looked into her eyes without saying a word. Her eyes were haze, alert but soft like those of a tamed deer. Silence as thick as a misty cloud descended in the room that minute and it was as though the whole world was motionless, curious of what was about to happen. Eng. John was a man of few words, a man whose actions spoke more eloquently than the chiming of a thousand bells which was why the whole world waited patiently for this time.

Finally, his hands caught what he was looking for. It came out sparkling.

“I will love you forever,” he professed and rolled the necklace around her neck.

The nurses clapped in excitement. Their curiosity had been satisfied and their silence broken.

“Thank you, sweetness,’’ she replied with her trademark smile that does not fail to carry her dimple along.

They both decided there and then that the baby should be called Mma which means Beauty.

Hours later, they were in a BMW car to the house. Eng. John was driving and singing simultaneously. He felt on top of the world.

When they arrived at their house- a moderate bungalow in the GRA quarters of Kuda -shouts of joy went up from all corners of the house

Two beautiful kids- Obiora and Nneoma accompanied by some family friends came running to them.

“Take it easy, kids,” Eng. John said and stopped them from lighting into the arms of their mother like they used to do. With one hand balancing the baby on his chest, he held Obiora with the other. “Sorry, kids but our mama is not strong enough for that now.” he apologised.

“Mummy is it a girl?” Obiora asked excitedly.  “Yes,” she answered simply.

 “Can I touch her?” Nneoma asked in her usual sing-song voice. Eng. John bent on his knees so that they both could touch the baby.

“She’s so beautiful,” said Obiora. “When can she play video games with us?” Asked Nneoma.

“Very soon, kid” their father said and led them inside the house. Both girls darted to their room and in a split of seconds came out with a pink doll.

“Mummy, this is our gift for her,” said Obiora. “Is that not the doll your senior aunty bought for you yesterday?” their Dad asked.

“Yes it is...” they both answered in unison. “...But we want her to have it.”

The baby made a tiny sound as though acknowledging their gift.

“Baby says thank you,” their mother said.

As Eng. John and the kids were preparing to go to bed that night they heard a rapping on the door. He excitedly approached the door but stopped when he held the door handle. He felt an unreasonable nervousness. How could he open the door at such time of the night without finding out who it was, he thought.  

There was deadness in the atmosphere, the unwholesome deadness of a cemetery. He heard heavy tread of footsteps in the compound and froze still like a rod. His heart began to hammer like he had just finished running a high speed pursuit. The rap on the door came again and this time harder than the first. He took a few steps backward and looked at the wall clock in the sitting room. 10: 37pm.

“Who is that?” he asked, managing to level his voice.

“Open this door or you let us force our way in and pay the price. Your choice” a hoarse voice said dispassionately.

“I will open the door only if you tell me who you are” Eng. John replied.

“Okay, then. Let’s do it the hard way,” the same voice said.

Eng. John’s hand instinctively went to his trouser pocket for his phone. The same pocket that had produced the gold necklace gracing his wife’s neck. When he tried to dial a security emergency number was when hell was let lose. The men fired a shot through the door and the bullet went straight to his heart. He held his chest and fell flat on the floor.

Terrified, his wife ran up from her sleep to the sitting room and saw him lying face down on the floor in the pool of blood. At that instance she forgot that she was holding a torch light until she heard a thud and realized that she had dropped it. Her husband was gone and the truth about it tore a gaping hole in the world around her but she was hoping she would soon wake up and realize that it was all a dream. Nneoma and Obiora were crying and pointing at the door. While she was still trying to figure out what exactly was happening, the relentless arm robbers fired another shot and the bullet hit her stomach.

The arm robbers finally gained entry into the house. The leader of the gang- a haggardly dressed man with bears as thick as a carpet grass jumped in, Jack Bauer style. His outlook was a man who was seemingly engulfed in nothing but hopelessness.  He starred at the motionless bodies of Eng. John and his wife, twirling his gun in the air.

Nneoma and Obiora rushed at him and began to hit him like crazy. He got angry with them and shot them both. When Nneoma and Obiora fell on the floor with a soft thud, the gang took off without touching anything in the house. 

Twelve years later, Mma was scavenging for food in a waste bin when a man stopped by and beckoned on her. Her face was caked with tears and it was obvious from her blood-shot eyes that she had cried her eyes out.

Her father’s brother took custody of her after the gory incidence that reshaped her life. He didn’t only take custody of her, but of all the assets belonging to her father. Rumour had it that he was behind the death of Eng. John but that was an allegation that was never proved.

She became a punching bag in his hands after she turned eight, no day passed by without him or his wife punishing her for minor mistakes their own children would get a pat on the back for. He reminded her countless times that she was the harbinger of the misfortune that destroyed her family and when she could not bear him anymore, she ran away from his house.

“My name is Kelvin,” the man introduced and further wound down the glass of his car. Mma held her breath and prepared to run away, Husein Bolt’s style. “Child, I am Pastor Kelvin,” the man said to ease her fear and it worked. She released her breath and relaxed her muscles.

Pastor Kelvin took custody of her after he got the permission to do so from her uncle. Her uncle was more than grateful to let her go with him.

Mma started school and life took a better swing but each time her past circles back at her she feels so scared, depressed and her only escape was to lock herself in her room and cry. Cry, cry and cry.

When she turned 19, she attended a workshop at her university that changed her life. She decided that enough was enough and so was it.

Mma practised all the tips the speaker taught in the workshop and she became a happy girl again. Her low self esteem disappeared. She refined her thoughts and realised that despite all that had happened to her she was a masterpiece designed for exploits.

She began smiling again and each time her past confronts her she smiles and brushed it away. Mma graduated from the university and today she is practising what she had always loved to do. Journalism.

Many people are going through difficult times today, probably because of their background. But hey, it’s time you caged that dark demon. You can be happy again, what you need to do is simple. Change the way you feel about yourself and you shall soar like the eagle out of that situation that had kept you depressed for too long.

Here are the 8 tips that helped change Mma’s life

 

1.  Live a positive lifestyle. Keep those ill thoughts in a leash. Quit telling yourself that you can’t amount to anything good because of the prevailing circumstances. And you know one funny thing about life, all our thought system is a creation. If you constantly believe in your heart that you can’t be of any good, you create a world of impossibilities around you and you will plunge into dipper woes in life but when you decide in your heart that you are designed for greatness doors of opportunities will smile at you.
2. Pursue your passion. Whether you believe it or not, the universe will open doors for you where they had been brick walls if you discover what makes you different from every other person. It could be that you have a sweet voice that could wake a dead soul. Find it. It is your duty to find it and if you are having difficulties discovering your passion I urge you to read “What Colour is your Parachute” by Richard Nelson or “Now, Discover your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. They are great books that has changed the lives of many.
3. Accept yourself the way you are and be happy. Our society is littered with depressed and angry people today because most persons have failed to accept themselves the way they are. We are specially made and the more we strive to be like the other person the more our uniqueness drains away. Marilyn Monroe said: “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” If you are dark skinned, sweethearts appreciate it and don’t go for any chemical that would predispose you to health hazards. If you are vertically challenged, flaunt it and don’t let anybody make you feel inferior.
4. Go out with genuine friends and never depend on the opinion of other people.
5. Don’t listen to depressing songs. Music they say is “the food for the soul” and songs have a way of influencing the mind. Imagine you are in love and playing Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love” you practically will be smiling to yourself. Won’t you? But play Adele’s “Someone like you” just after that lover boy has said it is over. Except you have a heart that is as tough as the skin of a donkey, you would feel bitter. Don’t listen to songs that could dim your spirit especially when you are having a challenge.
6. Fight your fears. Fears bring unblessings like regrets, failures and disappointments so fight it with all your might.Learn how you could overcome your fear here
7. Purge out the old you. You have to give up on that bad habit and be in charge of your life.
8. Finally, always talk to God in prayers. There’s absolutely nothing that is above God. David McCasland said “as we look ahead with God firmly in view we can face the future with confidence in His loving plan.”

I will leave you with these scriptures from the Holy Bible. They are powerful scriptures that has been working for me since I knew my left from my right.

 Ephesians 6: 10-18

 John 16:33.

Je vous aime. Deus benir vous.