DON'T GET A KNIFE, GET HELP!
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“It happened last night. It happened last night. It happened last night. It...”
The words writhed and slithered and dragged their fetid claws on the walls of my head. They pushed, they pulled at my sanity, they tormented me. My poor Seki, my poor poor girl, mummy is sorry she wasn’t there for you. Mummy is sorry that she let work keep her away. Mummy will make this right.
A thousand images flashed through in head, blurry at first but then clear as day. Me picking Seki from school. Me helping Seki undress in the house. Seki wincing as I tried to pull down her panties, the polka dotted ones I gave her for her sixth birthday that year. The bruises on her thighs, black and red against her fair smooth skin.
“Seki, what happened? Who did this to you Seki?”
The deafening silence, the lone tear rolling down her face and stopping at the dimple on her left cheek. The dirt on her nails as she swiped at it. It is almost funny how the brain notices such little details when all I want to do is scream.
“Your teacher?”.
She shakes her head.
“Was it uncle, aunty?”.
Another shake.
“Tell me who then? Who did this to you?!”.
She jumps. I’ve never raised my voice at Seki, never lifted a finger to hurt her. So I was also surprised when I saw myself grabbing her tiny hunched shoulders and shaking them.
“WHO?!”.
She’s wailing now, shouting something. I’m still shouting, so I couldn’t hear her at first.
“It’s daddy, it’s daddy...it happened last night.. ”.
My hands are suddenly cold, that chill that turns the marrow to ice. I dropped Seki, and felt my way to her bed. I was dazed, the words had sunk in. I felt a hand on my face, wiping the tears, trying to wrap itself round me. My daughter, I scooped her up, sniffling like a child, holding her, and rocking, trying to push the thoughts away.
That seems like a lifetime ago, I had managed to put Seki to sleep in her room. I didn’t leave her, even when Dele came home. He went straight to bed, he always did that, and tonight I was grateful he did.
Walking to the kitchen, the tears rolled down my cheeks, blinding me, I stumbled and clutched the knife firmly in my hands.
Mummy will make it right.
THE END.
I wrote this story on a bus. Overheard two men talking about how a father raped his six year old daughter. It was just sad, and I felt angry too. No one has the right to do that to anyone, a child for that matter, especially if that child were your own flesh and blood.
Another thing that pissed me off was that the family intended to hush up the matter, send the mum and the girl away— they'd be well taken care of course (insert sarcasm), something about taboos and curses and shame.
Well I say...
WAKE UP!
Did you know that in Nigeria, one out of four girls and one out of ten boys get molested in one way or the other before they reach 18?
Yeah, that should give you something to chew on. It's horrible and has to stop. It won't stop until we make it, and by "WE", I mean the government and every single individual.
Report abuse, be it rape, violence, trafficking. Let it be your concern, the awesome thing is that you could do it anonymously too.
Here are some places you can go to for help in Nigeria:
The CeCe Yara Foundation.
0800 800 8001. Toll free.
National Agency For The Prohibition Of Trafficking In Person's, (NAPTIP). Here's the website.
0800CALLNAPTIP (08002255627847)
Alliance Against Child Abuse And Molestation.
seriously i cant believe hmmm my hearts beed and beeds and will beed for such an dissapointing act by a father shameful father he cant be his father:(
Truly, it's very saddening. Thanks for your comment
hmmm thats really broke my heart.
a stoned hearted guy..read this with tears in his eyes...
this is all i can say @yvonn
I am humbled that this little piece touched you, and I'm glad you took your time to read it and comment. Thank you very much @sid9999.
I loved the way you used t he prose to highlight issues that most people would just shrug off as just another sad story (especially in Nigeria) this way the grievousness of the sin is made graphic enough for us to picture and be moved to do something, anything, no matter how little. We have to stop seeing happenings like this as just another story. People's lives are actually affected and I hope we listen to this call @yvonn has made. May we find peace
Thank you for taking your time to comment on this issue. I do hope people pay heed. Especially here in Nigeria, everyday there's one new story.
Thank you @babysteve
really touched with your story, hopefully the issue of child trafficking, rape and harassment can be quickly overcome by the government of the country ..
success friends @yvonn do not forget to post again when there are things like this way ..
thanks
I do hope so too @mujiburrahman10. Thank you for taking your time to read and comment.
i literally didn't breathe while I was reading your story. it's mind boggling and sad that these things happen in real life.
It's very common, so much that it's become old news, and people just treat it as one of those things that happen to just other people.
I had a friend who was molested. It was a difficult thing for her to overcome. In fact, we're not really sure she has overcome it, but there's no point really in thinking negative.
And the animal wasn't punished. He just moved on with his wretched life, and it shouldn't be like that. I hope these get to help someone someday, and I'll do the needful by resteeming it.
Thanks for this.
@barrister-batman
Most times questions like, are some people really created by God? Or do they reason like a normal human should?
Child abuse is increasing, and society turns deaf ear to it, now taboos are norms.
Like you said @yvonn, let's seek help and stop searching for a knife.
Govt too need to sit up and do right about this atrocities in the world.
Let's make the future bright.
Thanks.
It's unfortunate really, and there are no serious laws protecting the child here in Nigeria. To prove rape is even a tremendous hassle on the part of the victims and their families, so they just sweep everything under the rug.
We all pray things get better.
It’s such a sad state when people are more concerned about how they will look to their families instead of doing the right thing. When children are involved it becomes even more unacceptable, since they have such small voices and often have to scream to be heard by adults. You do a good thing here bringing this to the forefront. Maybe my 100% upvote might help in some way if you choose to donate some to the cause.
It really is sad, the fact that families think about their images more than their own wronged kids, especially if it is a girl, which it almost always is.
And because the child cannot do anything, the story dies a natural death with everyone hoping the child didn't get an STD or something.
The,Cece Yara foundation is actually a good one, especially as it is run by a renowned female lawyer in Nigeria, I do not know donations are made to the foundation yet, but I'll find out.
Thank you @dbzfan4awhile
You’re quite welcome. It’s good to put the truth out there.
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.
kindly ffb
my heart bleed when i read sad stories like this. how can a father rape his own flesh and blood, what madness really got into him for such unruly and ungodly act. i hope the little girl grows up without the stigma. the mother should have risen up to fight for her daughter for instead she aiding and abetting by trying to hush it with them. @favoursampson blogs a lot about the protection of female daughters and i totally agree with her. its high time every woman rise up to protect their little ones. thanks for sharing this. its a call to take caution.
It is truly appalling, I was just dumbfounded. Goes to show that abuse can come from anywhere.
Thank you very much for your thoughts.