There, they were: standing at ease. It’s not because life had given them a best choice but…but; what can we say? Pain is like a thumbprint, it differs from one person to the other. Sandra never wished to have anything and it doesn’t happened: not even some shaky ideas that will run her into loses. She was slick, calm and always generate smooth ideas to avoid cross-fire when it comes to how society perceive things.
At eight months, she lost her father. Of course, she didn’t feel it until she was in primary school and her mother start lacking fees and kept on borrowing here and there. When she was eighteen, she came home one afternoon and found her mom thrown out by the police and her uncle. Reason? The land had been sold and the only house that’s their only living property had been sold, too.
Sandra’s mother, with an inbuilt integrity, refused to go into inheritance. She had seen what her mother went through when her father was killed while fighting for the British during the second World War. “I’d rather be a beggar than to share a bed with anyone from the family of Joshua.” She said it with stern. Of course, it wasn’t just about the inheritance but the loads that comes with it.
She was just there, their bedding and dishes mixed together. They had nothing left. The only way they get accommodated was only Church compound. When their man of God found them, he biblically alluded what Jesus, said in St. Luke: “Let the children come to me.” He welcomed them in without a second thought. That’s okay. They appreciated it and since one of her distance cousin had paid the whole year, Sandra, was saved from being send home because of fees until she finishes high school.
Each morning, Sandra and her mom would pray, take their naked breakfast without any escort and then she goes to school. Her mother will sweep the Church compound while mumbling some gospel music. At times she will sweep even the pastor’s squatter and come back to read her bible before she heads to the market and sell her fruits and roasted maizes.
The pastor didn’t give it his attention until his wife told him how nice she was.
“And then Pastor Michael started noticing. Sometimes he would come to our chamber and ask us how we were coping. He would persist that God had every reason for how we feel and I would mumble amen, amen.”
What I didn’t know is that, my mom, a single parent, was just a predator to him. One evening, he came to our house and I started to worry how he was looking at her. Of course, the lust was all over his face.
“So I caught him off guard as he looked at her and I ask him ‘ is there something we can help you with Pastor Michael?’ and he was like the flower bed was getting greener and greener since the day we stepped into the compound.”
Well, that’s the first red flag anyway. The interviewer asked her what she did next since she felt suspicious.
“Well, my mom also noticed it the same way and there was nothing much we could do about it. Remember were pariahs there. We trusted in God and His men. We just kept quite and stopped sweeping his compound for various reasons.”
“Various reasons like what?”
“Well, his wife at one point started feeling suspicious and then she would knock at our door asking if Pastor Michael was in.”
“Was he always in your house”
“I think he was always everywhere with his bible. When she shows up at our door, I would go and lie on his and mom’s behalf because he was always uncomfortable to show up.”
We were under the tree deep in the village. The Ministry of Health had send us to do awareness under the theme: ‘Know Your Status.’ A project that’s meant to create awareness for the entire country on safety and how to live with AIDS.
“Long story short, my mother contracted AIDS. Pastor Michael gave it to her.”
“What happened next?”
“Well, the whole Church learned about it. What they were afraid to say was that Pastor Michael has been living with AIDS together with his wife. So when the story was smoking out, we were evicted out of the Church and went back to the street.”
“What did you do next?”
“We found a shanty in one of the slums. By that time, rent wasn’t like it’s today. It’s fair enough. However, we were unable to pay it in most cases.”
Her mom took over the business of selling groceries while to tutored some kids in the neighborhood. After that, she started selling second hand clothes.
Her uncle’s political dream elevated. He became an MP and then started clearing the town. Their joint business of clothes and fruits, they were affected. She went to jail six months after the City Council placed a heavy fine on them.
Coming back, she found that her mom couldn’t cope with stress and AIDS. She died a miserable death.
She grieved a long time and when she got better, she started from zero again. This time, doing odd jobs: from washing clothes for living, to hawking fruits and working part time as a bartender. Men scold her in the bar for delaying to bring their orders. Some admired her and some would run away with her money for the drink which, the boss will have to deduct from her salary. For those that admire her, sometimes they will touch her breasts and she will have to feign and pretend she didn’t see or feel it. She raised money. She managed to school herself.
To be continued………