The Woman I am

||Chapter 1||

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم.
In the name of Allah the most beneficial and the most merciful.

Jada, Adamawa state.
12th September,2003.

A beautiful lady, in her late late twenties is sitting on a rock preparing food for her family as the hot sun of Jada portrays her skin in a caramel-like color, hiding her fair complexion. She uses an old and rugged dust pan to stir up the flames, adding more wood occasionally to the blazing fire. She unties her wrapper from the side and wipes off the beads of sweat that have formed on her forehead. As the lid of the pot begins to shake she opens it making steam to fill the small mud and rusty place they call kitchen. She brings out their old ladle which has began to rust around the handle from a plastic basket next to her and use it to stir the almost done baobab soup.

That moment led the entrance of a young jolly girl with eight years of age, carrying a huge clay pot on her head. From the looks of it, one could tell that the pot is too big for her, it is beyond her ability, but being the hardworking girl she is, she didn't complain. Her Hijaab was wet as a result of the clay pot that was leaking from a tiny hole underneath it.
She poured the water from her head directly to a big drum that sat at a corner in the thatched hut they call "home".

"Use Inna (Welldone Inna)" she said to her mother together with squatting beside her and collecting the ladle from her hand, which she continued putting in the Baobab Power in small bit and stirred it vigorously.

"Waddu horde dun. A julina? (Bring the ladle, have you prayed?)."

"No I haven't. I'll offer them now." She replied obediently and went towards a small place that was demarcated with stained mud bricks. After purifying herself, she fetches some water from their randa(clay pot) and uses it to perform ablution. She proceeded and prayed in their small room which has only a bamboo bed, a rusty metal box at a corner where they store their clothes and some halfway broken plates.

She sat beside her mother on the mat but was lost in thoughts. Her mother called her repeatedly together with tapping her shoulder lightly to bring her out of her trance.

"Safna, Safna, Safna!!"

"Eh Inna(yes Inna)." She said a little bit startled.

"Koyahata (What happened)?" Inna asked with concern,

"Wala ko dume (Nothing)". Safna replied biting her lips.

"Toh yamu nyiri dun (Eat the food then)." Inna said again, because she knew that something was wrong.

Meanwhile, Safna was thinking about her father that she had only layed her eyes on him thrice and also thought about her pathetic life. If she had a father like other normal kids, would they get three square meals? Will she get to have new clothes every Eid-El-Adha like other people do. Not to talk about her siblings that she has never seen.

She puts all her thoughts aside and joined her mom in eating the little food they had, they drank water from the drum Safna filled earlier to quench their thirst. Safna being the obedient child, she is stood up and cleared the two middle-sized calabashes they used and went to the community tap close to their home to wash them. Inna was so exhausted from all the work she did and the hot sun wasn't helping matters plus they were too poor to afford a fan. She used an old newspaper to fan herself as she tried to get some sleep before Maghrib. Few minutes into her sleep,she heard someone's Tasleem from outside.

Can't someone sleep in peace! She thought.

She answered the tasleem and went towards the door while shoving on her long Blue but tattered Hijab and peeped outside.

She saw Baba Shallo, an old man of about eighty years together with his stick held firmly on his left hand. She squatted down and greeted him with her eyes glued on the floor. In the Fulani Culture, especially in Jada, looking at an elderly person in the eyes means that you are not part of their culture.
As she waited for response, she heard a thud. Just to raise her head and see Baba Shallo on the floor having a seizure attack.
She became confused and panicky. She quickly got inside to get water, thinking it will make him stop but when she poured water on him, thinking it has subsided, not knowing that Baba Shallo is Dead.
She squatted in front of him shaking him and calling his name. Hansai, Jada's most hypocritical person came passing by their house.
She stopped and bulged her eyes, almost out of its socket looking at Maryam that was shaking Baba Shallo endlessly as she has begun to worry. She didn't even want to think about Baba Shallo is Dead, so she thought it was part of the attack.
Hansai quickly ran to nearest hut, fatoumata's to inform her about what she just saw, fatoumata quickly grabbed her veil that was lying on the floor and together they ran back to Maryam's hut. In a wink of an eye the people of Jada have already filled the small house surprised on what happened and everyone with his thoughts....

~~~~~~~~
Maryam Ahmad El Shareef is a middle aged half-cast,her mother being a fulbe woman while her father is an Arabian who came to live in Adamawa state for marriage. Her mother,Hajiya Rabi'a gave birth to two children her and her brother Alhaji Muhammad Ahmad El Shareef. Their dad Engineer Ahmad El Shareef passed away when Maryam was two years of age. Maryam was married off to Mallam Ibrahim Ja'e at the age of sixteen. After 4 years of marriage she gave birth to a beautiful bubbly baby and she was named Safna. After Safna's birth the couple started having issues,they became more complicated and the last solution was divorce, Safna was one and a half years old at that time. Since her first marriage Maryam didn't re marry, she chose to live with her daughter and cater for their needs. Mallam Ibrahim re married one year after their divorce,he got married to Inna Faizah, a woman who sells food, and they now have three children together- Al Amin,Fatima and Zainab.
Alhaji Muhammad lives in the city of Adamawa together with his wife,Hajiya Zulaihat. During their marriage they were blessed with three healthy children-Safwan,Sa'dan and Samha.

Assalamu Alaikum Guys, 1st chapter down Alhamdulillah and more to come In Shaa Allah!
Please vote,comment and share
~THEDUOSCRIBERS~
6|02|21.