It was a sunny afternoon! Calabar sun was having its regular competition with only God knows who.
Human and every other living thing seemed to wither under the intense sun. Trust me, it wasn’t a weather to smile at.
But I found myself in a cab along Marian by Ekong Ita road. Just when the driver was about to speed off, the traffic light showed – Red!
As I waited for the green to appear and free me from this scotching sun that was finding its way into the taxi, I decided to look through the window, maybe to see how the earth which lay bare was being molested.
But instead of that, I saw something else…
Her face was swollen one could easily guess that life had shoveled alot of shit on her face.
Amidst the dirty black skin, her beauty radiated, as she walked pass every taxi and searched every waste bin by the road, my heart fell and I watched the strong girl in me go weak.
Her eyes were pure and spelt in caps INNOCENCE. Her feet though bare told a long story of a lonely girl who had walked a long road.
I watched in great shock at what the society was producing, seeing her search with all her strength got me asking myself what the future looked like…
This is 2014 for Christ’s sake and the blow of poverty, illiteracy, street kids, and a thousand other vices is supposed to have been softened if not abolished.
I began to create a mental picture of what this girl had gone through, my mind raced from one end to another…
A greater part of me wanted to walk up to her, envelope her in a warm hug, take her home, do all I can for her..…but I was knocked back to reality with the thought that I was squatting with 2 friends.
It didn’t change anything, lost in my thoughts I saw her struggle to smile after she picked a dirty cup half empty but half filled with Viju milk.
She already was eating scraps of bread, could that be how she survived?
I couldn’t take it, I alighted from the taxi and decided to allow fate use me today on this girl, as I
approached her, she attempted to run for safety, but I managed to calm her down and win her trust.
She led me to were her friends lived, believe me, you wouldn’t want to know, I felt tears crawl slowly out of my eyes as the sun only became hotter.
“My name is Christiana I said gently, what is your name little princess?
As she stared into my eyes, searching me from one angle to the other as if trying to tell me her name was just on my fore head, she shook her head and replied, “I DON’T HAVE A NAME ANTIE.”
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