My name is Tonia. I was only eight years old when my parents and younger brother died from food poisoning. On the night before they died, I went to bed early hence I didn’t eat the yam porridge they all had as dinner. The next morning, they all complained of stomach pain and were rushed to the hospital by our driver but not before calling Aunty Vivian, my mother’s younger sister.
She promised to go straight to the hospital to see them. She, however, promised to come and take me to see them as soon as possible. “Tonia, please stay at home with the maid. I will go straight to the hospital and see your parents and brother. I promise to come and take you to see them as soon as possible,” she said over the phone. However, she came to see me about three hours later just to give me the sad news that changed my life forever. “Tonia my dear, there is something you must know. I know you are no longer a child. Your parents and brother are dead. The doctor said they died as a result of food poisoning,” Aunty Vivian revealed. She cuddled me while we both cried out our hearts.
Immediately after their burial, my father’s siblings took over all his property and left me with nothing. I was very sad and lonely but Aunty Vivian promised to take good care of me. I had to start living with her family. I used to attend an expensive private school but with all that happened, I had to stop going to school for sometime because Aunty Vivian could not afford my school fees. Later, she enrolled me in the public school which her two children attended. However, she could not fulfil her promise for long as her husband won the American Visa lottery and they had to travel out of the country. I could not go with them since I was not their child.
Nevertheless, before they eventually travelled, she handed me over to her best friend, Monica and her family. Aunty Vivian in my presence pleaded with Monica to take good care of me and treat me like her own child. I thought I had finally found a family and a home where I will be loved and accepted but how wrong I was. The six years I stayed with Aunty Monica and her family was like living in hell. I was treated more like a house help. Aside from being maltreated, I had to drop out of school in JSS 3 because Aunty Monica informed me that Aunty Vivian had stopped sending her money to take care of my personal and educational needs, thus, she could not waste her hard-earned money on someone like me. When I could not bear the maltreatment any longer, I ran away not even knowing where I was headed. All I knew was that I had to leave the house before she killed me.
At age 14, I found myself on the street. I slept in an uncompleted building for one week while I begged to eat. Nevertheless, I didn’t know that the man who sold fruits some houses from the uncompleted building had noticed that I begged around the area. One day he called me and said, “Young girl, I have noticed that you beg people for money every day. Don’t you have a family?” “No, uncle I don’t have a family,” I said. He introduced himself as Cletus the fruit seller and I introduced myself as Tonia. He told me that I could come to him for any assistance. I accepted.
Three days later, he told me he wanted to have a serious talk with me. He said, “Tonia, I want you to stop begging. I promise to take good care of you. Second, I want you to stop sleeping in that uncompleted building because it is too dangerous for you. Finally, I want you to come and live with me and my younger ones. We live in a two-bedroom apartment, you can share a room with my sister if you don’t mind,” Cletus suggested. “Thank you. I am very grateful and I appreciate all your help,” I said. He took me home that evening and introduced me to his younger sister, Mercy. She accepted me with open hands and we started living together as a family.
Cletus promised to cater for my education and, immediately, he sent me back to school. Although, I had to start from JSS 2, I knew it was better than not going to school at all. Cletus continued selling fruits by the street side to pay our fees, meet our personal and general needs as well. Thank God his fruit business continued to prosper. Unfortunately, Mercy died mysteriously when she was 16 years old and this affected him so much.
However, a year later, I got admission into the university to study Economics. When I informed Cletus, he reminded me that he promised to cater for my education and so he would fulfil his promise.
To be continued
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