Love Life War

Along Came Life

It is an unreasonable superstition of the human mind that Love would be thought a barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge not the desire for comfort in the arms of another.

People seek life in different ways ... I am VALERIE SEYI-HOWARD ; and this is what I went through to find love and life.

2005

2nd of October

Lagos, Nigeria: My dad was diagnosed with Cancer ,this day I turned 13 My dad was to undergo a surgery, but this wasn't possible because we had no money. We fed on the pension my dad got from his civil service job. This could feed all four of us ; my dad, my mum , my sister-Sarah and I.

5th Of November

My dad was becoming too weak , he was going through pain , I could feel it. Everyday I woke up to pray that he would be fine and we would find help. Nothing happened. My mum and I set off to collect the pension on behalf of my dad : we left for the public office but when we got there , what I saw hurt me , old men and women being treated as if they were animals. The public officers sent them away on the pi-text that they didn't have one document or the other. It was our turn to pick up our money but we were told to come back the next day 'We have closed for the day .. You all should leave' they said. I felt unhappy but my mother comforted me.

We returned the next day and still we were denied the money after waiting for hours ; the money that could not even take us through that day. 'Corruption had settled in the mind of these ones' I thought.

We got home with this story and my dad made us believe that it was all good and we would survive. He told us not to return.

My mum would wake up every morning , call us all together for a fellowship and we all prayed for my dad and also for a helper(THINGS WEREN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY).

After this Sarah and my mum would put out buckets in the rain to get water for our baths , while I stay in watching over my dad. My mum would leave to the construction site where she worked from morning till noon. She brings home whatever she earns for medication for my dad , and some food. Towards the evening she would return to work , I offered to help but my mum insisted I stayed home. She worked tirelessly for us.

23rd of December

My dad was taken away by the cold hands of death, The strongest man I knew ; he had died. Because we lived in an apartment owned by the government , we were chased out as my dad who was a civil servant passed on.

We lived under various bridges , changed school from time to time when my mum doesn't make enough for that term. This time Sarah was about eleven and there was little we both could do.

A few months later , my mum changed , she wasn't always around and when she was , she came home with luxury items and this baffled Sarah and I.

We moved into a bedroom flat , and whenever I asked my mum were she got the money and if I could come help work there , she always cries and says ; "I'm doing this for you -Valerie and your sister Sarah." I didn't know what she meant.

My mum was selling her body! I tried convincing her into stopping but she would always cry and hold my sister and I close and kiss our foreheads.

My mum told her story ...

"I fell in love in your dad when I was eighteen , he was my school teacher when I was preparing for my final exams. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen but also about twenty years older than me. I noticed him always looking at me in class an this made on top of the world.

About two weeks after we started talking to each other , he offered to give me extra help in some subjects I found difficult. I told my parents about this ,but no one knew about my feelings for your dad. All they knew was my school teacher Mr Seyi would be giving me lessons at home.

The lessons continued for a few months. A day came when Mr Seyi came home for my lesson but no one was home. He started teaching me math dirt but then I noticed him always looking at me , I was fine with it because he was my tutor. My feelings grew stronger for him. He tried to touch me , at first I resisted but soon after I gave in. Nothing else was on my mind , all I could think of was that the man I loved showed me love .

After what happened, he left. He wasn't tutoring me anymore. I wrote my Senior exams and I came out successful. Every time I saw Mr Seyi in school , I didn't know whether to look away or greet him as I was filled with fear.

I became pregnant and life wasn't easy for me. My parents took me to the man I was pregnant for , Mr Seyi accepted he owned the pregnancy. We got married and moved to Lagos.

I bore you and we named you Valerie. Things were going smoothly as your dad had become the principal in a government school .