A Nigerian Facebook user has narrated how she helped her primary school teacher she was avoiding after discovering about the hardship the woman is allegedly being subjected to by her in-laws.
According to Warri Rebel, she was initially avoiding her former teacher until she called her by her sister’s name.
She wrote;
I saw my primary school teacher at Agbara few minutes ago and pretended I didn’t see her. She was hawking and looked like an old woman. I didn’t want us to see each other. I didn’t want her to see me looking like that but she held me and called me by my sister’s name.
“Ruth right?” She asked
I said I wasn’t Ruth and told her my name. I hugged her and she held on to the rubber on her head with one hand and hugged me with the other. She asked after my parents and siblings and I told her they’re fine.
“I see you a lot but before I call you, you’ve crossed. I was about crossing when I saw you coming and said I should ask if you’re the person I think you are”
“It’s me ooo”
“I stay at magbon now. Been staying there for 5 years. Moved here in 2015 after my husband died in 2012. I usually see your mom, didn’t she tell you?” I vaguely remember my mom saying aunty Evelyn’s husband died.
“She didn’t tell me” I replied
“Na here we dey hustle now ooo, me and my kids”
We talked for a while but all I could see was a woman who looked 20 years older. I remember her in primary school…she had a shiny black skin and moved with a swing in her hips. I tried to reconcile that person with the woman I was seeing now but it was hard. She looked so unkempt. Her once shiny skin was now faded. I could see the tears and fade on her shirt and the blackheads on her face.
This woman was a teacher. A very good one at that. But she now hawks snacks on the road.
I wanted to ask for her account number but I didn’t. I didn’t want to embarrass her. I told her I’d be back to see her since I know her spot.
This life ehn.
The Facebook user who went back to render help to her primary school teacher after the first meeting, revealed that her (teacher) in-laws’ seized her husband’s house after his death and only gave her access to the boys quarters.
Warri Rebel also disclosed that her teacher’s oldest child was supposed to sit for the last West African Senior School Certificate Examination, but couldn’t because one of her uncles has stopped paying the kid’s school fees.
She added;
I met her again today. My childhood teacher.
I searched for her all over agbara until someone I described her to directed me to the spot I might find her child. I met the boy hawking snacks..he should be around 14. I asked about his mom and he took me to her.
The house she lives in was built by her husband but his brothers took over after his death. They intend to sell it but she doesn’t want them to. The gave her the boy’s quarters. The house is already falling apart so she and the kids sleep in the one of the shops outside the compound so the house doesn’t collapse on them while they sleep. Sometimes they don’t sleep at home. They sometimes hawk till the next morning to people who apply the road at midnight at Agbara and then look for somewhere to sleep. And then they continue hawking at daybreak.
She has 3 kids and they all hawk with her since they aren’t in school. The oldest girl was supposed to write her WASSCE last month but she couldn’t afford to pay for it. She said she can’t afford to put them in school. The brother in-law used to pay their fees and then stopped. She can barely afford to feed them. She said the boy slipped while hawking on Sunday and they had to pour him water to revive him. The hawking is taking a toll on all of them.
The snacks she sells isn’t hers….she sells for someone and they add some extra snacks as her own profit. Sometines, she doesn’t sell them all, not even her own. The kids eat out of the profit too.
She said she doesn’t want to leave her husband’s house because if she leaves, they’d sell it and she doesn’t want them to sell it. She said she wanted to take the case to humans right but she can’t afford to.
Her brother in-law also beats her sometimes.
She’s really grateful for the money that was sent to her. Her kids also came to show gratitude
Widows are really suffering in this country. This woman and her kids need all the help they can get. She says she can start selling foodstuff in the shop outside her husband’s compound.
I asked if she has an account number people could send money, she said she doesn’t. She can’t afford to open one.
If you also have clothes for a boy of 14/15, a girl of 16 and a girl of maybe 9, you can also send.
If you have clothes for a size 6, 5’5 inch woman, you can also send it.
Thank you and God bless.
