Episode 6 Hannatu's story

My brother had gotten a marketing job with a small firm in the Jos town. During one of his marketing trips, he over heard an elderly woman whom he later discovered was a Doctor in the Jos university teaching hospital (JUTH), she needed a teenage girl to help her with the house work and he immediately indicated interest, informing her that he had sisters who would do well in it and she accepted.

We arrived Jos mid-afternoon that friday. The weather was slightly hotter than what we were used to in the village but it was still cold. Everywhere was so busy and beautiful. I had never seen so many cars moving at once with such speed. I feared for them asking my brother if they weren't going to run into each other and he laughed and called me a village girl. Well I couldn't argue with that. Here was a 16 year old who had never been to a city before. I guess I was truly a village girl.

We got to the house in less than an hour. I was in awe of everything I saw. From the gate to the parlor I had never seen anything so spectacular. It was like paradise. I couldn't believe people lived like this. We sat down as we waited for her to come out. When she came, she offered us food and drinks. I can't remember how exactly it happended but in less than 10minutes I had cleared the whole plate and finished the drink to the last drop. My eyes caught my brother's and it was a look of "why are you embarassing me" but I didn't care. I was hungry.

Nuhu introduced me to Mrs Nanfang and after a few interrogation, she accepted me, saying she would observe me for 4 weeks, after which if she was satisfied, we would move on to other things.

Nuhu left and I was shown to my room, a relatively small bed space with a dressing mirror table and a lamp with a table and chair. I placed my "ghana must go" of clothes beside the bed and sat down in the silence. The place was far more comfortable than my home but I missed my family. I missed my mother and my sisters. Ironically I missed the twins too. I wept silently as a fresh grief over took me. I couldn't believe I actually wanted to go back home despite the horrible memories it has. I just wanted to be with my family. But thank God that wish did not come true.

Mrs. Nafang was a good woman. She was so good to me and very impressed with my work but one problem; My attitude. I had developed a very rude and irritating attitude over the years due to everything I had been through and I did not realize it until Tope came.

I call her "angel Tope"
The angel that changed my life..

...
Continues tomorrow.