This Friday morning started like all other days: the sky was clear, the birds were chirping in the trees that dotted the front yard; and Pa Tswane was seated on the old, wooden recliner in his front yard listening to the radio in Swahili and chewing – even at that time of the morning – on betel nuts. Bibiana could have sworn on her life this was the case even without having to look, because some things just do not change – like this morning. But before this day is over, Bibiana’s life will be changed forever.
Rising from the pallet in the room she shared with her sister Cindy, and cousin Malina; Bibiana looked out the window of her uncle’s house – the place they have called home since the passing of their parents some years back, as she remembered rather poignantly how sick they had been before their death. But this morning was not for sad flash backs to the past, there were important things to do before going off to school – that delightful place where you could learn everything. It always seemed to her that all the knowledge that could be had could somehow be condensed and packed full into her brain. Ha! the possibility of such thinking!!
Moving about the small hut, she prepared for school – a destination that lied at the end of many turns through several paths; the first that started just a few metres behind the house, with the third left fork on the path leading to the stream that ran just by their village. She always joked with her friends that if the river had been only a few metres off, they would have had to go through the next village for water! Oh yes she knew her Maths, and her friends never failed to roll their eyes and call her moja erevu!(smart one in Swahili)
Time and life went by like on other days, and after the activities of the day, they retired to bed as night came knocking. But at 11pm – she was sure of the time because that was when her cousin opened her eyes to the figure of men towering over Bibiana, and a copious amount of blood everywhere – a fact she would only become aware of later.
These men were robbers – sure they were – but they were not after electronics nor any such valuable, because their family was simply too poor to afford them anyways. These wicked men were after Bibiana’s bones – yes, her bones! – and had succeeded in chopping off her right leg below the knee, two of her right fingers, and were on to her left leg when Malina screamed, getting the attention of the adults sleeping in the next room. This minor turn in events had the robbers leaving hastily with their loot, and a half-finished job.
Bibiana later woke up to an indescribable pain that shot from her right knee and that seemed to spread to the rest of her body – like the eye of a destructive hurricane unleashing its terror and destruction as it fanned out. She knew instantly that she had been the target of these vicious men for the simple reason that she’s an albino, whose bones are believed to form an important ingredient in making money charms. And as Bibiana slipped into unconsciousness – having lost so much blood – she felt a tremor run through her body, and in that instant knew that living would be much better than dying, even as she vowed to fight her hardest to stay alive. She would not permit the bone robbers to have the last laugh, they may have stolen her bones, she would not allow them steal her dreams too.
As Bibiana finally lost consciousness, her last thoughts were about how her life would change due to events of this painful Friday night. But it will only be the flipping of another chapter of her life, the story that is her life will continue still – it has by no means ended – at least not yet.
