She decided to flee from her village in Northern Nigeria, away from the dirty old man she had been betrothed to marry and away from all the chaos and the hardship she had known her entire life. All she had with her was a little money she saved from working on people’s farms and selling fura da nono. She also took the dowry money Alhaji Tanko paid to her father; after all, it was paid for her head! Meanwhile, perhaps the most important thing she had was a wishlist, top of which was to visit a beach once she had successfully escaped to the South. All her life, she only heard amazing tales about oceans and saw a few pictures of beautiful beaches but never got the chance of seeing one in real life. Good thing she was finally escaping to a place where the ocean’s waves lapped against rocky cliffs; a place where pretty girls wore bikinis and strolled on the beaches without molestation! She was fleeing to her freedom, or at least so she thought!
At the age of twelve, Fatima was the only girl (of all her mates) who was yet to get married in her village. Her situation became so scandalous to the extent that it brought shame to her family. Rumour had it that no man wanted to marry her because she was too wild and would not stay in a husband’s house. Her mother hadn’t raised her well, they said. Well, the little girl was okay with being labelled “wild” as long as no man thrice her age and more got to defile her body one horrible night. She was satisfied with being “untrained” as long as she had the opportunity to be a child. She could not understand why her childhood should be taken away from her so forcefully. But most importantly, she could not understand why her parents “especially her father) would want to put her in the same condition as most of her mates who were forced to marry before her. Each time she saw them carrying their frail-looking babies with flies trailing them, she never understood why they usually had that horrible urea stench about them. But whatever the cause of them, she didn’t want to get married if that was what marriage was about.
But her parents never listened to her pleas. They were too eager to get rid of her in order to stop the rumours that were making the rounds due to her continued stay in the house. But more than that, they wanted to earn an extra income for the family through the bride price they would certainly receive on Fatima’s head. Consequently, the moment Alhaji Tanko came along with his money and his disgusting self, Fatima’s parents jumped at the offer and readily decided to give their daughter to him. The bride price was hastily paid the following day. And that night while everyone slept, Fatima made a drastic decision in a spur of the moment to leave her family and escape to a place unknown…
Now the girl things about this story is that although Fatima had to endure all kinds of hardship on her way to her envisaged freedom in life, she eventually actualized her desires. Today, she lives a comfortable and fulfilling life; in a better place to fight the rights of many girls who are currently faced with the same hurdle she once surpased. You too can overcome any challenges are you may be facing right now…
