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Sports / Re: Racism Allegation: Keshi Answers FIFA Query by chalxdon(m): 5:22pm On Sep 19, 2013
ayusco85: If U call this racism then wat do u call the scenario where A̶̲̥̅ black player is been thrown banana??
* i want the malawi coach and FIFA to answer this question
You think like a kid.

1 Like

Sports / Re: Racism Allegation: Keshi Answers FIFA Query by chalxdon(m): 5:14pm On Sep 19, 2013
psalmdave: Keshi was rong but d malawi's coach was ronger grin
And you are the rongest. grin loll
Nairaland / General / Re: Things You Can Do With A Toothpaste That You Never Knew by chalxdon(m): 1:34pm On Sep 19, 2013
The one for jewelry is a sure bet. I've been using it to sparkle my jewelry anytime they get dim. It works like magic. Also, the one of using it to clean stained pressing iron is true. Nice post

1 Like

Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 2:10pm On Sep 17, 2013
Kingscollege: pls the new staff frm batch b ,what date does ur appointment letter carry ...is it january or what?
1st July
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Everton Vs Chelsea (1 - 0) On 14th September 2013 by chalxdon(m): 3:10pm On Sep 14, 2013
JMOI: Everton will be seeking to record their first league win of the season when they host Chelsea on Saturday.

Roberto Martinez's side have drawn all three of their Premier League matches so far, including their stalemate at Cardiff City last time out.

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea have
enjoyed an unbeaten start to the league season, winning two and drawing one of their three games to occupy second place in the table.

Everton completed the signings of James McCarthy and Gareth Barry on transfer deadline day and both could
make their debuts against Chelsea.

Romelu Lukaku, who also joined the Toffees on deadline day, is ineligible
to face his parent club due to the conditions of his season-long loan switch.

The visitors, who lost the Super Cup final on penalties to Bayern Munich a fortnight ago, have no new injury concerns ahead of the match at Goodison Park.

New signings Samuel Eto'o and Christian Atsu could make their Chelsea debuts.
Which Atsu are you talking about? The one on loan?
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 9:58am On Sep 12, 2013
obinna002: Heard that something is about to happen sonnest
What could that be?
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 11:39am On Sep 09, 2013
V-Chancellor:
i doubt d veracity of this info though nothing is impossible. I pray dat we channel adequate mechanism to obtain reliable info without bein in hurry to post catastrophic info. Instead of professin negative, lets profess positive as the words of our mouths models our individual destiny. As for me, its not yet over until its over. You can read Ezekiel 37:1-8, hahahaaaa! Dry bones shall come alive if u prophesy. Pastor niii
nobody was in a haste to post any catastrophic info. I wonder what you mean by "catastrophic" tho. Meanwhile, I explicitly said the info is not first hand and should therefore not be taken 100%. I just dropped it cos ppl were in need of any bit of info. It's left for you to confirm the 'veracity'. Gracias
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 7:44am On Sep 09, 2013
Good morning my good people. The information I have is that other people will be called in two months time. This info should however not be taken 100% because I didn't get it from a direct source. It's a second-hand information and I don't know how true it is. We might just keep the hope alive. Gracias
Literature / Re: Which Author's Books Have You Read The Most? by chalxdon(m): 12:12pm On Sep 07, 2013
smithboela: I have John Grisham E-books Collections for a token fee of 1K. Inbox me if you are interested smithboela.tewogbade@gmail.com my pin:2815245C
Bro, people are willingly dropping download sites for books. Pls make it an act of kindness to drop the link. It will be appreciated. Thanks in anticipation. Gracias
Literature / Re: Which Author's Books Have You Read The Most? by chalxdon(m): 7:51am On Sep 07, 2013
Robert Greene and my one and only John Grisham. They are just wonderful
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 6:12pm On Sep 04, 2013
Just realizing somethings about this recruitment. SMH
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 1:23pm On Aug 30, 2013
ananne: chalxdon how far? i didnt get any message ooooo. i am really downcast.
My dear cheer up. I have not received too but God is never late. Let's continue being hopeful
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 12:11pm On Aug 30, 2013
ananne:


obinna how true is ur info? when are the letters coming? some of us are having a bad day already due to the tension caused by not getting any sms. pls help a brother. can i hav ur number obinna?
It's really no easy knowing that many people have received and some have not. Pls any info to help is welcome
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 8:50am On Aug 30, 2013
Congrats to all who have been contacted. Still hopeful to receive
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 4:00pm On Aug 29, 2013
Seanbabs: Abeg d person wey den call for ekiti,never reach dea ni,make hin tell us,if he has receive his apmt-letter,dat will make us feel relief and stand as assurance.
I tire oo. The person for make the whole issue clearer.
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 3:58pm On Aug 29, 2013
FAITH!!!
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 7:23am On Aug 29, 2013
HOPE!!

1 Like

Jobs/Vacancies / Re: INEC 2012 RECRUITMENT: Has INEC Contacted You For Aptitude Test ? by chalxdon(m): 5:36pm On Aug 20, 2013
Benrock: I got in touch with one of the P.As to INEC commission representing South East Zone and he told me that INEC will issue appointment Letters very soon but d date he dont know. He also assured me that most of the People made it and that the delay is as a result of internal bureaucracies which the 12 Commissioners and INEC chairman have resolved. Most of the people that did they interview at Enugu may know him.
That's somehow comforting. We are used to waiting, so we wouldn't have any problem waiting a bit longer. I guess I know the man you are talking about Gracias!!!
NYSC / Re: What Is Holding Rivers State Government From Paying Us Our Allowance? by chalxdon(m): 8:33am On Jul 31, 2013
Chibuking81: Pls who knows when batch A 2012 will start recieving their own?
Till whenever
Education / Re: ASUU Denies Plan To Call-off Strike by chalxdon(m): 12:20pm On Jul 29, 2013
ujchief: Fresh Air everywhere cheesycheesy
hahahahahahahaha. Thanks for reminding me of that slogan
NYSC / Re: What Is Holding Rivers State Government From Paying Us Our Allowance? by chalxdon(m): 9:52am On Jul 25, 2013
I can't believe you people don't understand what is meant by the photo album where you appeared. It means the photo album/magazine that contains all the photos of all batch C Corp members. The one you were given when you passed out
Family / Say No To Child Marriage by chalxdon(m): 10:24am On Jul 20, 2013
Only A Flame….
FEATURED


I sat crouched at a corner of the room… With my arms circled around my folded knees.
Another stream of tears rolled effortlessly down my cheeks as I relived the experience.

I could still feel his fingers like the gentle slithery movements of a snake as he caressed my body.
I closed my eyes.
If only I could shut out the images…

But No! They were there… Refusing to leave…
They came with such vivid clarity!
Images of flailing arms … Fighting to keep away the evil that loomed above me.

I remembered trying to scream… But I couldn’t hear the sound of my own voice.

Randomly the images came, in no defined order. I recalled a struggle to retain my underwear as groping hands determined to take them off…
The sound of a dress being torn…

Then I remembered the slap!
Like a thunderbolt, the impact had gone through my whole body shutting down every remaining resistance I had.

I had lain there passive…Like one in a daze… and watched in horror as my young and innocent body was brutally ravaged!

I could still hear the wicked but ecstatic grunts of pleasure as he forcefully entered me again and again. Beads of sweat dropped from his forehead as saliva flowed in tiny streaks from the corner of his mouth. The stench of alcohol literally exuded from the pores on his skin.

For a moment my eyes had locked with his and I cringed in disgust!

“Who is this animal?!” I remembered thinking. There was a deadness in his eyes which were filled with fiery desire and burning lust! As I looked into those eyes, I realised I was staring at a beast… For I couldn’t bring myself to call him a man.

A surge of bitter tasting bile rose in my throat as I retched under a strong wave of nausea.

But nothing came out! My stomach was probably empty… But I did not care!

There was only one word that could explain how I felt…….

VIOLATED!

That was thirteen years ago, when I was just twelve years old… and now it is happening again!

Still crouched in one corner of the room, my hands still folded around my knees, I know what is about to come as he nears me. I feel like screaming, like getting up and charging at him but I know it would be useless. He would pick me up as if I am a piece of paper and throw me hard on the bed and I would not be able to escape his grip. So I sit there, shivering, tears stinging my eyes, my heart beating wildly. I know what to expect. After all, it has happened a million times before. From that first encounter thirteen years ago, I had somehow become a vessel for him to express his depravity. It isn’t something new, yet I am still terrified as hell.

I close my eyes as he grabs my hand and yanks me off the floor and throws me to the bed.

“So you think you can leave me and follow another man abi?!” he growls, landing me a resounding slap on my arm, careful not to touch my face. I scream and try to kick him away but I know it only ignites him. He is blaming me for following another man but I am guiltless. I only visited my aunt who just came into town and she kept me fifteen minutes longer than my curfew time. Now I am being punished and called a LovePeddler in my husband’s house. The other people in the house are listening but they will do nothing, they will say nothing. I will walk out with a limp and bruises and they will greet me with a smile as if nothing happened. They will ignore the cry for help in my eyes as my own family has ignored them for thirteen years. My life will continue with no hope because the world around me has no place for me to run.

“How many times will I tell you that you belong to me?! No man will ever have you as long as I’m alive! You are mine, forever!”

“Please, don’t…” I cry but he slaps me again. He puts his hand around my neck and holds me in a choke. There is darkness in his eyes as a cackle erupts from his throat.

“Open your legs!”

“Don’t do this. Please…” I beg. Maybe today is the day he will look at me with those eyes and have mercy. Maybe, just maybe he will not force himself in today and will love me the way a man should love a woman. But why should I hope for such things? It is not my place to enjoy them. I am only a woman and have no soul, as I was told. And it seemed like just yesterday, when I was but a little girl and was told my body belonged to a man old enough to be my father. Sadly, I don’t think I have grown from that time. As a girl I have come into this pain and it has lived my life for me.

So, I lie there, unresponsive to his touch, dead at every thrust he makes, numb to my own self. I keep my eyes up at the ceiling and look at the light bulb until it fades into memories of a wonderful past I have kept secure in my heart.

I see my brother teaching me to throw stones at lizards on the fence of our house. I see my sisters and I playing suwe and fighting over whose turn it is to wash the plates. I hear my father’s hearty laughter from the parlor as he watches something on TV. I listen to the cries of my baby brother while my mother bathes him in the backyard. The air is breezy and smells of rain but the sun shines brightly, refusing to go away though the clouds enshroud it. I look up and try to take in all its brilliance but grandma says I could get blind from doing that. So I lift my hand and shield my eyes while I hear my mother calling me. But the sun breaks through stubbornly, aiming to blind me…

I blink and I am back to hell, the light bulb stinging my eyes while his sweat pours over me. How many times have I been in that position, looking at that same bulb, at the ceiling it is hanging from? How many times have I taken the pain and yet emerged and kept a happy smile when I am outside with my children?

He gives one final grunt and pulls out of me. “Go and get ready for our in-laws,” he says with an evil grin and walks into the bathroom. I pull my legs together and try to cry but I can’t. There are no more tears here. I have to do as he says.

I secure my wrapper tight and hurry out, carrying around my familiar limp, trying to hide the pain in my arms. The compound is already buzzing with activities as the maids prepare for my husband’s new wife. I have never met her but I pray she is someone I can relate with, a friend that can finally keep me company. I go about preparing the meal and making sure the maids clean her room properly. It is my former room and now that I am a senior wife, I have been moved to a different room.

I finish what I am supposed to do and ensure that everything and everyone is set. Then I retreat to my side of the house and sit silently as the wedding ceremony progresses. There is music and dancing and food and drinks. Everyone is happy and cheerful and for a while, from my prison, I forget my pain and smile. Hours pass and finally the last drum is beat and there is a cold hush in the large compound. The generator goes off and I light a candle in my new room. My bladder alerts me that I must use the toilet and I grumble. How many times must I go in an hour? The maids call me ‘Aunty Piss’ behind my back but they do not know my weak bladder is a souvenir from my battle with VVF. I am glad to be alive even though my bladder embarrasses me every so often.

I stop in my tracks as I hear the sound of someone crying in the dark. I look around me, flashing my candle in the shadowy corridor but I see nothing. The crying continues and takes me only a few more steps for me to know it is coming from my old room. I go cold. But I strain my ear to listen some more if I can hear my husband’s voice. I hear nothing.

I move forward, each step with a churning stomach and I finally come to the door. I clasped the handle tight and slowly push the door in. The crying doesn’t stop; instead it is turned up a notch as I walk in. I put the candle before me and I freeze. Lying on my bed, hugging my old pillow with eyes sketched in fear is someone’s little girl. I feel a shiver in my bones as I look at her. She can’t be older than eleven and yet her future is going to be destroyed in one night.

I cannot move. I can hardly breathe. I feel like I am looking at myself. It is happening all over again. The girl sees something in my face that beckons to her. She leaves the pillow and runs to me, falls at my feet and hugs me. She is crying, pleading, begging me to take her home.

Home? I don’t know where home is right now. Maybe it never existed; it could be all in my head, for I do not understand how a parent can give their child away to be raped and abused. They call it marriage but it is no marriage. It is rape, it is abuse, it is evil, it is death.

I look at the girl and pull her up to me, holding her tight in my embrace, telling her it will be alright as the candle burns away. But nothing will be alright. Nothing will be fine from the moment he touches her. In one night he will take her from childhood, past her youth, past her womanhood and dump her right in a dark grave. And every night after that, he will pummel her to death.

Is this what I want for her? Should she suffer as I still do?

I pull away from her but she holds me tight. She won’t let go. Together we walk to one of the windows and I peep out. I can see him emerging from his side of the compound. How many times have I looked out this window and watched with dread as he approaches me.

Something sparks in me. I look at the candle. It is just a flame but I know what power it holds.

I set the flame to the thin curtain at the window and watch as the cloth fights the heat. But it is no rival for the fire. It whorls backwards and gives in to the flame, embracing it. I do the same to the second curtain and both of us watch as they both burn. I lift the bed sheet and set the mattress ablaze also.

The girl’s eyes are wide and she moves back from the rising inferno. I see the question in her eyes. I have an answer in mine.

I will buy you another night, maybe a second night but that is all I can do.

I have wilder ideas of running away but I have children. Where will we all go? I look at the flames leaking up everything and though I know this is temporary, it gives me pleasure. It also gives me strength and courage. And I feel a tingling, a tiny tingling in me to fight for my freedom, for her freedom.

Maybe I will fight…someday soon. Maybe today!

The End

Written by Oje Valentine Ikenna and Sally Kenneth Dadzie who blogs at http://moskeda..
She is a friend, a sister and undoubtedly the best writer I know.

Both of us SAY NO to #childmarriage. The Nigerian Literati say no to #childmarriage
 

Please stand up against these sick senators who are pushing for child marriage. It is not enough to sit and say it is never going to happen. We should raise up our voices against it and insist that strict measures be taken to have it completely abolished in places where it is being practiced. How can a lawmaker marry a thirteen year old and we think it’s his prerogative? How many more girls will go through pain and horror in the hands of sick men who abandon them in shacks to die and still roam around the community with no one punishing them? How can we all sit and have this injustice being done to innocent children and yet expect God to come down and save us? If we keep quiet, what then is the hope for our children? Don’t think because you’re a Southerner, it has nothing to do with you. What affects one, affects all.

The Nigerian community is speaking up against this. It’s just a flame but you can help the fire spread by sharing this message, irrespective of your religion and beliefs. It may not be enough to stop these men who are comfortably playing god with the bodies and souls of little girls. But it is enough to stir something in you. We should not be known as a nation that sits down and does nothing. Stop saying our efforts can’t go anywhere. These girls have to know there is another way to live. They have to know that marriage is a contract between two consenting adults and they have nothing to do with it. They have to know that there are people who hear their cries and are fighting for them.
Nairaland / General / Say No To Child Marriage by chalxdon(m): 10:11am On Jul 20, 2013
Only A Flame….
FEATURED


I sat crouched at a corner of the room… With my arms circled around my folded knees.
Another stream of tears rolled effortlessly down my cheeks as I relived the experience.

I could still feel his fingers like the gentle slithery movements of a snake as he caressed my body.
I closed my eyes.
If only I could shut out the images…

But No! They were there… Refusing to leave…
They came with such vivid clarity!
Images of flailing arms … Fighting to keep away the evil that loomed above me.

I remembered trying to scream… But I couldn’t hear the sound of my own voice.

Randomly the images came, in no defined order. I recalled a struggle to retain my underwear as groping hands determined to take them off…
The sound of a dress being torn…

Then I remembered the slap!
Like a thunderbolt, the impact had gone through my whole body shutting down every remaining resistance I had.

I had lain there passive…Like one in a daze… and watched in horror as my young and innocent body was brutally ravaged!

I could still hear the wicked but ecstatic grunts of pleasure as he forcefully entered me again and again. Beads of sweat dropped from his forehead as saliva flowed in tiny streaks from the corner of his mouth. The stench of alcohol literally exuded from the pores on his skin.

For a moment my eyes had locked with his and I cringed in disgust!

“Who is this animal?!” I remembered thinking. There was a deadness in his eyes which were filled with fiery desire and burning lust! As I looked into those eyes, I realised I was staring at a beast… For I couldn’t bring myself to call him a man.

A surge of bitter tasting bile rose in my throat as I retched under a strong wave of nausea.

But nothing came out! My stomach was probably empty… But I did not care!

There was only one word that could explain how I felt…….

VIOLATED!

That was thirteen years ago, when I was just twelve years old… and now it is happening again!

Still crouched in one corner of the room, my hands still folded around my knees, I know what is about to come as he nears me. I feel like screaming, like getting up and charging at him but I know it would be useless. He would pick me up as if I am a piece of paper and throw me hard on the bed and I would not be able to escape his grip. So I sit there, shivering, tears stinging my eyes, my heart beating wildly. I know what to expect. After all, it has happened a million times before. From that first encounter thirteen years ago, I had somehow become a vessel for him to express his depravity. It isn’t something new, yet I am still terrified as hell.

I close my eyes as he grabs my hand and yanks me off the floor and throws me to the bed.

“So you think you can leave me and follow another man abi?!” he growls, landing me a resounding slap on my arm, careful not to touch my face. I scream and try to kick him away but I know it only ignites him. He is blaming me for following another man but I am guiltless. I only visited my aunt who just came into town and she kept me fifteen minutes longer than my curfew time. Now I am being punished and called a LovePeddler in my husband’s house. The other people in the house are listening but they will do nothing, they will say nothing. I will walk out with a limp and bruises and they will greet me with a smile as if nothing happened. They will ignore the cry for help in my eyes as my own family has ignored them for thirteen years. My life will continue with no hope because the world around me has no place for me to run.

“How many times will I tell you that you belong to me?! No man will ever have you as long as I’m alive! You are mine, forever!”

“Please, don’t…” I cry but he slaps me again. He puts his hand around my neck and holds me in a choke. There is darkness in his eyes as a cackle erupts from his throat.

“Open your legs!”

“Don’t do this. Please…” I beg. Maybe today is the day he will look at me with those eyes and have mercy. Maybe, just maybe he will not force himself in today and will love me the way a man should love a woman. But why should I hope for such things? It is not my place to enjoy them. I am only a woman and have no soul, as I was told. And it seemed like just yesterday, when I was but a little girl and was told my body belonged to a man old enough to be my father. Sadly, I don’t think I have grown from that time. As a girl I have come into this pain and it has lived my life for me.

So, I lie there, unresponsive to his touch, dead at every thrust he makes, numb to my own self. I keep my eyes up at the ceiling and look at the light bulb until it fades into memories of a wonderful past I have kept secure in my heart.

I see my brother teaching me to throw stones at lizards on the fence of our house. I see my sisters and I playing suwe and fighting over whose turn it is to wash the plates. I hear my father’s hearty laughter from the parlor as he watches something on TV. I listen to the cries of my baby brother while my mother bathes him in the backyard. The air is breezy and smells of rain but the sun shines brightly, refusing to go away though the clouds enshroud it. I look up and try to take in all its brilliance but grandma says I could get blind from doing that. So I lift my hand and shield my eyes while I hear my mother calling me. But the sun breaks through stubbornly, aiming to blind me…

I blink and I am back to hell, the light bulb stinging my eyes while his sweat pours over me. How many times have I been in that position, looking at that same bulb, at the ceiling it is hanging from? How many times have I taken the pain and yet emerged and kept a happy smile when I am outside with my children?

He gives one final grunt and pulls out of me. “Go and get ready for our in-laws,” he says with an evil grin and walks into the bathroom. I pull my legs together and try to cry but I can’t. There are no more tears here. I have to do as he says.

I secure my wrapper tight and hurry out, carrying around my familiar limp, trying to hide the pain in my arms. The compound is already buzzing with activities as the maids prepare for my husband’s new wife. I have never met her but I pray she is someone I can relate with, a friend that can finally keep me company. I go about preparing the meal and making sure the maids clean her room properly. It is my former room and now that I am a senior wife, I have been moved to a different room.

I finish what I am supposed to do and ensure that everything and everyone is set. Then I retreat to my side of the house and sit silently as the wedding ceremony progresses. There is music and dancing and food and drinks. Everyone is happy and cheerful and for a while, from my prison, I forget my pain and smile. Hours pass and finally the last drum is beat and there is a cold hush in the large compound. The generator goes off and I light a candle in my new room. My bladder alerts me that I must use the toilet and I grumble. How many times must I go in an hour? The maids call me ‘Aunty Piss’ behind my back but they do not know my weak bladder is a souvenir from my battle with VVF. I am glad to be alive even though my bladder embarrasses me every so often.

I stop in my tracks as I hear the sound of someone crying in the dark. I look around me, flashing my candle in the shadowy corridor but I see nothing. The crying continues and takes me only a few more steps for me to know it is coming from my old room. I go cold. But I strain my ear to listen some more if I can hear my husband’s voice. I hear nothing.

I move forward, each step with a churning stomach and I finally come to the door. I clasped the handle tight and slowly push the door in. The crying doesn’t stop; instead it is turned up a notch as I walk in. I put the candle before me and I freeze. Lying on my bed, hugging my old pillow with eyes sketched in fear is someone’s little girl. I feel a shiver in my bones as I look at her. She can’t be older than eleven and yet her future is going to be destroyed in one night.

I cannot move. I can hardly breathe. I feel like I am looking at myself. It is happening all over again. The girl sees something in my face that beckons to her. She leaves the pillow and runs to me, falls at my feet and hugs me. She is crying, pleading, begging me to take her home.

Home? I don’t know where home is right now. Maybe it never existed; it could be all in my head, for I do not understand how a parent can give their child away to be raped and abused. They call it marriage but it is no marriage. It is rape, it is abuse, it is evil, it is death.

I look at the girl and pull her up to me, holding her tight in my embrace, telling her it will be alright as the candle burns away. But nothing will be alright. Nothing will be fine from the moment he touches her. In one night he will take her from childhood, past her youth, past her womanhood and dump her right in a dark grave. And every night after that, he will pummel her to death.

Is this what I want for her? Should she suffer as I still do?

I pull away from her but she holds me tight. She won’t let go. Together we walk to one of the windows and I peep out. I can see him emerging from his side of the compound. How many times have I looked out this window and watched with dread as he approaches me.

Something sparks in me. I look at the candle. It is just a flame but I know what power it holds.

I set the flame to the thin curtain at the window and watch as the cloth fights the heat. But it is no rival for the fire. It whorls backwards and gives in to the flame, embracing it. I do the same to the second curtain and both of us watch as they both burn. I lift the bed sheet and set the mattress ablaze also.

The girl’s eyes are wide and she moves back from the rising inferno. I see the question in her eyes. I have an answer in mine.

I will buy you another night, maybe a second night but that is all I can do.

I have wilder ideas of running away but I have children. Where will we all go? I look at the flames leaking up everything and though I know this is temporary, it gives me pleasure. It also gives me strength and courage. And I feel a tingling, a tiny tingling in me to fight for my freedom, for her freedom.

Maybe I will fight…someday soon. Maybe today!

The End

Written by Oje Valentine Ikenna and Sally Kenneth Dadzie who blogs at http://moskeda..
She is a friend, a sister and undoubtedly the best writer I know.

Both of us SAY NO to #childmarriage. The Nigerian Literati say no to #childmarriage
 

Please stand up against these sick senators who are pushing for child marriage. It is not enough to sit and say it is never going to happen. We should raise up our voices against it and insist that strict measures be taken to have it completely abolished in places where it is being practiced. How can a lawmaker marry a thirteen year old and we think it’s his prerogative? How many more girls will go through pain and horror in the hands of sick men who abandon them in shacks to die and still roam around the community with no one punishing them? How can we all sit and have this injustice being done to innocent children and yet expect God to come down and save us? If we keep quiet, what then is the hope for our children? Don’t think because you’re a Southerner, it has nothing to do with you. What affects one, affects all.

The Nigerian community is speaking up against this. It’s just a flame but you can help the fire spread by sharing this message, irrespective of your religion and beliefs. It may not be enough to stop these men who are comfortably playing god with the bodies and souls of little girls. But it is enough to stir something in you. We should not be known as a nation that sits down and does nothing. Stop saying our efforts can’t go anywhere. These girls have to know there is another way to live. They have to know that marriage is a contract between two consenting adults and they have nothing to do with it. They have to know that there are people who hear their cries and are fighting for them.

Dr. Val Oje
NYSC / Re: Two Female Corpers Set Ablaze In Rivers State by chalxdon(m): 8:17pm On Jul 19, 2013
The same school that students bugled my friend's room when we were serving in Asari Toru LGA. That school is a breeding ground for touts.
NYSC / Re: What Is Holding Rivers State Government From Paying Us Our Allowance? by chalxdon(m): 12:20pm On Jul 19, 2013
This people are just confused. Why will they be altering the schedules within days. Anyway, the new schedule should be borne in mind.
NYSC / Re: What Is Holding Rivers State Government From Paying Us Our Allowance? by chalxdon(m): 9:10pm On Jul 17, 2013
Batch C 2011 payment schedule. Lawyers/medical personnel: 16-19th July.
Tai zone: 22-26th July.
Ahaoda zone: 29th July - 2nd August.
Obio Akpor zone: 5th-9th Aug.
Port harcourt zone: 12th-16th Aug.
Emouha zone: 19th-23rd Aug.
Spill-over: 26th-30th Aug.
CONGRATS!
Politics / Re: Boko-Haram 2nd-In-command Challenges Shekua On Ceasefire by chalxdon(m): 8:21pm On Jul 16, 2013
lauyan Abuja: Am saying kids are on the prowls in NL. Kids that need to be spoon feed on the concept and philosophy of global peace.
My friend you are making noise. Just make your comment reasonable enough.

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