JUST BY CHANCE

LEAVING AND NOT LOOKING BACK!

Miss Jennifer Uchenna had proposed in her heart to get to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria under any circumstances. The big city of dreams!!. Mrs Jemima her mentor always spoke about it during her lectures. She was 23 years old and not about to become the fifth wife of Chief Donatus. The man responsible for caring for her father's medical bills whilst he was sick until he passed away leaving 7 children and a grieving widow behind.

She wiped her face as the tears blinded her vision, slowing her down. She was determined that she must become a great personality all by herself as she had been taught by her mentor. Getting married was not a solution to her family's financial condition. It sounded selfish but she desired to break the band of poverty that was tied around her family all by her hard work.

However, her stepmother disagreed with this concept. She believed Jennifer's getting married to a very wealthy man is the family's remedy for their financial hard times. A woman working hard can never bring in money, she often told Jenny. Her stepmother Mrs Chioma Uchenna was interested in raising money for the family by getting her married to Chief Donatus. He is a councillor at a ward in their local government. This marriage had since been long planned from when Jennifer was 20 years old and she had finished her teacher training college program in Agbor. Her teaching job was too meagre to bring in any substantial amount for her father's treatment at that time or in paying for her sibling's school fees.

Jenny as she was called intended to go for a more sophisticated teacher's training program to become one of the best teachers in the world. She desired a degree in the university in other to be able to compete with world-class tutors.

She had always been interested in sharing knowledge even with her younger ones. She was a trained teacher and a skilful farmer. Her little farm not too far from the house was a testament to her hard work. She grew vegetables for her family's consumption, cassava for garri to sell and had 6 old laying birds for eggs in a little cage beside her father's house. She learnt how to bake during her home economics practical in secondary school and since then, she bakes and fries pastries to sell at the school she was teaching. Her pastries tasted so delicious that they hardly spend hours inside the transparent glass displaying them in front of the school and the bucket displaying them at home.

Everything Jennifer had learnt had only been possible with Mrs Jemima's help.
The woman mentored Jennifer into seeing the possibility of becoming great despite her background. She would always tell Jennifer to start small and watch it. Mrs Jemima was an amazing lecturer at the local teacher's training college Jenny attended. From the way she spoke to the way she carried out her daily activities in school, Jennifer wanted to be like her.

She was the perfect lecturer. But her mother said school was not the solution to a woman's problem. Chioma believed that Jenny's going to school was a waste of money.  Every day, while Jenny schooled, she ranted about how much goes into the education of a child, especially a female child. She believed that a woman need not be smart to keep a great home.

She would often say to Jenny, that all she had to do was, be beautiful and have a little knowledge about how to manage her husband's monthly housekeeping money. What a mentality! Jenny thought.
Jennifer's father Mr Amaechi became bedridden due to his last attempt at palm wine tapping. He broke his back after falling so hard. Hence, every fund in running the house was used in caring for him until he died.

Jenny loved her father so much and she did not plan to run away today leaving her siblings behind. She wanted to raise them, teach them and provide for them as she promised her father's corpse during his funeral ceremony.
However, she overheard Chioma telling her uncle that the bride price will be paid in a few days. They needed the money to pay the debt incurred during the burial. She resolved that she would work, and send the money home but never, will she trade her future for a life of being a 5th wife!! NEVER!!!!

With that, she ran faster, not looking back!