Her Little Secret(Prior)

Chapter 8

Haleemah

They said the earth is circular in orientation, so while it's morning in some places, it is night in some because only one sun shine on the whole earth.

Maybe that's why while most part of the country had woken up to civilization there were places who still haven't seen it's light. Such kind of places is the village of Turu. The light of revolution still hasn't reached the village until Hajja and her crew discovered the village ten years ago.

Turu village is a small village situated in the mountains. Inhabitants of the village are mostly cattle rearers. Turu women are mostly farmers and on most occasion spends their entire day on the farm only to come home in the evening to work on the farm produce to make it edible and also cook them for their families.

Men are usually out either tendering to the cattles or out of the village to sell the cattles and farm produce. If they are not doing either of the two, they sit around aimlessly watching the kids and young ladies gallivanting around. The elders commenting on each child's upbringing and level of shyness, while the young lads gossip and admire the young ladies.

Turu women have no time to take care of themselves talk much of their surrounding. Newborn and infants survive in the environment only by luck and not because they were taken care of.

There was nothing like personal hygiene and their environment is in the worst state of cleanliness.
Because water is not readily available, the water used to wash dishes since three days ago are still kept for subsequent washing. Clothes are washed and changed on once in a blue moon.

Only a few older men are allowed to leave the village with farm produce and cattles for sale lest the clever inhabitants of the city should cheat them. They sell their products and buy a few things they needed mostly from neighboring more developed villages close to their village.

There were no schools or hospital in Turu and the only ones available is about a hundred miles away from the mountain in another village. Before they descend the mountain in search of healthcare and walk another hundred miles, the patients had died.

Several years ago when the primary care center was established and a few people in white had came to village to enlighten them about medical care, they were fascinated.

The men had allowed their pregnant women to go there but that didn't last long. Because of the low number of healthcare providers, they will always spend the entire day waiting and sometimes even came back with futile results when they could have done some work on the farm.

Not to talk of those seeds given to them as medicine which tastes weirder than the herbs they are used to.

When the villagers lost  a few of their people on their way to the clinic, they stopped bothering themselves.

Schools were not even an options even after years of enlightenment programs and advocates. The school was built in the villages of 'kado' and they are their rivals. There is no way their children are spending time with them.

With the way these people are, I think even the colonial masters didn't discover their village during their hunt.

I looked over at my best friend ever and smiled proudly. Who would have thought that this Sarah was one of those same people?

When Hajja came back with a dirty, shy girl years ago that I had to use all my energy to tell her what a bathing sponge means, and that the big wide foam thrown on the floor in her room was meant for her to sleep on, I had no idea she brought someone who will be my best friend in and out.

Sarah Kamilah Hamdi was a clever and curious teenage who had lost her father and was left alone to take care of her ailing mother and grandmother in the village.

Sarah knew something was wrong with her village and there should be more to life than farm and sleeping on the bamboo mat in the hut.

Sarah would spend most of her spare time working on the peak of the mountain behind her father's hut. That is the only part of turu in her father's possession. Sarah would stare ahead hoping to see a sign of salvation from beyond the mountains. Not that she could see anything beyond other than space and the sky.

Sarah would watch the train of men leaving her village to sell their products and wonder how she can hatch plans to follow them out one day.

It was a taboo, women never tried to leave. Not since several years ago when six pregnant women had died between the span of two months, mostly out of complications before medical intervention. But the village midwives claimed it was because they were seeking a new kind of treatment that the land was not accustomed to.

It was to her relieve when one day, Hajja and her crew set out on voluntary societal outreach and ended up in their village to spend two weeks enlightening them about hygiene and cleanliness. Sarah had followed them to the city at the expense of her mother's wrath claiming she knew she would eventually forgive her. She was only fourteen then, now she's twenty five, launching her personal fashion line.

I sat close to Hajja and she squeezed my hands, I understood it all. She was Sarah's mother and father, and I was her sister and friend. We were practically her family.

Her biological mother sat opposite to us, she looked over to Hajja, gratefully. It took time for her to turn around but she eventually did.

I saw Ammarah wiped a lone tear and I sighed refusing to remember her story. Poor Ammarah.

Hajja had held many events in the past but this was the first of its kind. She had touch so many lives but Sarah was the first child she nurtured and trained until she was successful.

This event is an important one even though it was merely Sarah kamilah launching the opening of her own fashion line.

Present at the event were dignitaries who had shown interest and several media coverage. The royal family was invited too. Business women and several prominent political figures were also present. Hajja's events is not one to be underrated.

Hajja isn't interested in politics, I bet people would have voted for her eyes closed. She is my role model. And I can't even count the number of lives she had touched.

I was in charge of the event covering and I needed to do a good job. People might not understand but I do, Hajja needs a fund raising. This event is meant to move those money sharks so that they can raise the fund without her having to ask for it, lest she is used for other selfish purposes. Hajja wanted to stir clear out of politics and she did a good job at it.

I walked over to the director noting to myself that I am definitely recruiting a media crew even if it's just for the purpose of WMCY (women movement council of yola). I want this organization to spread even out of yola, and across Africa if possible.

***

Have you ever wondered what your village was like during the time of the colonial masters? What stories have you heard about the colonial masters from your people? Slide into the comments section, or in my dm and let's talk.

Ciao