As Josephine saw a teenage girl chasing down a vehicle just to sell one more sachet of water, she shook her head in pity, recalling her own childhood.
Very early in the mornings, she was up and always headed to the market near her grandmother’s home. She had to be early so she could meet up with sales before dawn when she had to go to school. She often pushed the truck that carried a big cooler of rice, beans, and stew. She was only 13. People marvelled at her spirit of entrepreneurship and often wondered how she managed to get things done. Her mother does the cooking, and she has to hustle to see herself through secondary school. She is the second of four children.
Her other siblings are also doing menial jobs to survive. The last child stays back at home because she is too young to be left on the street to hustle. Their mom is a state primary school teacher. Her salary could only take them for the first week of the month; for the rest of the month, they will have to patch together to survive. She needed to pay her fees, buy books, sandals, and all other necessities. The hustle was what saw her through school after her dad chased her mom and siblings out of the house. They stayed with their grandmother because her mother could not also afford to pay any house rent.
Josphine’s mom met her dad at a wedding function. He was a well-to-do barrister. while her mom had just begun her teaching career. One thing led to another, and they got married. Her dad began winning cases, and doors began to open for her family. Her mom brought several relatives to stay with them at different times. She was often overwhelmed with the task of cooking for visitors. She loved entertaining visitors, but her dad and the nature of his work and clients took it to another extreme. Every weekend, no less than ten people will visit their home. Most of them are chiefs and the “who is who in society”.
A certain domestic help whom her mom had hired had won her mom’s affection and trust. So her mom gave her the opportunity to also attend to her dad whenever she travelled. This help was just seventeen at the time.
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As time went on, Josephine’s mom heard that the domestic help was having an affair with her husband, but before she could confront them, the help was already pregnant. In an uncontrollable state of anger, her mom gave an ultimatum to her dad to choose between her and the domestic help whom she brought from abject poverty and gave a life. Her dad felt insulted because he was a traditional chief. Everybody was taken aback when he threw his wife and four kids out of their matrimonial home and made the domestic help his wife.
Several family meetings were held, but they made no dent in her dad’s heart. His mind was made up. That was when Josephine and her siblings took to the streets to better cater for themselves. They were so quick to adapt, as her mom had trained them the hard way.
A few years later, the domestic help had borne two more children. Her dad had put them in the best private schools, while her mom withdrew Josephine and her siblings from the private schools they were attending and enrolled them in public secondary schools. Her dad wasn’t contributing a dime to their upkeep. It was at this point that everyone believed the domestic help had really charmed her dad. Before her dad clocked 70, he got seriously ill. At this time, it had already been nineteen years since he kicked his family out of the house. His supposedly second wife packed her things with those of her three children (the eldest of whom was now in a university in Europe sponsored by Josephine’s dad) and absconded.
With no one to take care of him, he went back to Josephine’s mom, begging her to come back. She had long forgiven him, and because she didn’t want her daughters to bear the stigma of a broken home, she went back to his house. She took care of him until he passed away at age 72. He remained apologetic until his death. Each time Josephine recalls everything that happened, she often thinks about what her mom could have done differently.
Everyday, she never stopped to think of how wicked her dad had been. She didn’t support her mom going back to her dad, but everyone has a choice. As for the second wife, she hopes God gives her an experience that is at par with what she and her siblings experienced growing up without the loving care of their dad.
