"Did your teacher not teach you in school?" Mama Aliyu asked her set of twins. Actually, that will be the fifth time she is asking. Well, I have been counting as I kept looking at the drama from the corner of my eyes while pretending to read the textbook I have with me.
The truth is mama Aliyu is confused on what to do, she could barely read what has been written in the notes her children brought to her, not because she couldn't see but because she couldn't make sense out of it. The bottom line is she cant read and she doesn't know what to teach these young ones. Although, she has older children, they are also as good as her because of the limit to her education.
One thing I have observed in two days of staying here is that she is very efficient in taking her kids through their islamiyat (quran school) lessons. She is always very uptight about when the kids leave home for the lesson and if they understand what they learnt there. I used to think she is like this because she is a devoted believer, little did I know she is only doing that because that is the only form of education she was opportuned to experience before marriage. So, even if she does not understand what they do in the westernized school, she at least understands what is done in the islamiyat and does not need anyone to tell her what to do.
This is where the popular saying of "what you do not have, you cannot give" comes in. Mama Aliyu didn't go to school, so she doesn't know how to help her children. This just makes me wonder, why up till now some parents have refused to send their children, most especially their female children to school. They seem to forget that they have not only limited that child but a whole generation to come.
Now it will shock someone to know that Baba Aliyu is actually educated. he attended a college of education. Speaks fluently except for the accent and well, he is quite handsome. But even with these qualities he ends up with someone who can barely teach his children how to identify letters. If I push this to my mom now, the next thing she is going to say is "you do not understand". This is where I get confused, why train a man who hardly stays home to train his descendants and leave the one who is actually responsible for that to wallow in illiteracy. I am not saying training the male child is wrong, I just feel the females shouldn't be the ones battling illiterates." ddidn't your teacher explain this to you?" Mama Aliyu asked again, now looking at me pleadingly.
"zo mana, jemila, jemilo" I gestured to the kids. Looking at Mama Aliyu, it felt like I just removed a rock from her shoulder.
"Nagode" she said, thanking me as she made her way into the small house.
"God help our generation" I thought to myself.
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"i thought I told you never to talk to any man again?" a male voice asked, rather aggressively.
"it is not what you think my husband" a female voice replied
"what do I think, enh, tell me, what am I thinking?" the male voice asked again, this time with a sharp sound, like a slap following his words.
"the man.... the man" the female voice stammered tearfully
"i am listening, talk you prostitute" the male voice enquired with another thunderous sound.
At this point, I woke only to realize I was dreaming. What sought of dream it is, is still what I am trying to understand. I looked across the room and could identify the other five bodies laying in the same room with me. The boys sleep in another room, But the room are connected in a way that one would need to pass through one to get to another.
"i am listening .... you are not deaf now, are you? the male voice asked again with another sound.
"well it wasn't a dream" I told myself. This is real, but who could be beating who, at this time of the night, and could be this loud that we their neighbours can even hear them, I asked myself.
*zomana; means come
*Nagode; means Thank you