Questions Agitating My Thoughts As We Celebrate -By Festus Ogun

It was around 7 o’clock in the morning when the bitter cries of some women in my neighborhood, knocking at my door, woke me up. I was terrified and immediately became restless. What could have happened that adults would uncontrollably wail early in the morning, I asked myself. “The Law”, please attend to us now, the sobbing woman requested in Ijebu language. I thereafter tied my towel and opened my door, in fear.

I asked the eldest woman what was the issue. She narrated to me how the man living directly opposite my residence had died of a brief illness. The man died partly because he was unable to pay the medical bills when he went to the hospital which made those taking care of him resorted into using herbs. That’s so sad, I thought. She later requested that I contribute to the money they’ll use to purchase a casket and secure a space to bury him at the cemetery.

And the wife was helpless too since she was heavily pregnant. I then queried: “mummy, but what about his family members?”. They couldn’t give any satisfactory answer. His relatives were unknown, even to the wife.

I was moved to tears; not just because I was broke but for the circumstances surrounding the whole tragedy. Well, I gave my widow’s mite and they left in appreciation. I later heard in the evening that the man was shabbily buried in a manner devoid of burial rites.

This last weekend, I was in school for an assignment when another woman came to appeal for financial support. What far this time? I thundered! The woman explained that the deceased wife has delivered a bouncing baby and the money she is sourcing for is to get her “discharged” from the hospital. She was looking for #6,000. Sadly, I couldn’t help this time but I made a promise to get something for the woman when I’m back on campus.

The widow and the baby ought to have been discharged by now. But, how will that innocent child be properly taken care of? How will the child get sound education? How will that child survive? How will the jobless widow train the child?

These are questions agitating my thought as we celebrate Children’s Day.

And these are the things I see before saying this country is hard and harsh.

Festus Ogun