She gave all she had,her maximum strength and energy.As she looked up to God to give her more strength as she delivers her first child.The midwives kept encouraging her to keep pushing till the baby comes out.It was not an easy task.
Her whole body was sweating as she couldn't take it anymore.She wanted to give up now.Somehow,she had carried this baby for more than 9 months.To be specific,11 months now.This made it difficult for her even more.She pushed and kept on pushing.It was taking longer than usual.Her strength and energy were just fading away.
Chisoma almost gave up on God as she could no longer endure the pain.Comparing the pains she was going through labor now to what she has been through in life,was practically the same.She didn't even know the father of the child she was carrying.She grew up in the streets of Borokiri,Port Harcourt under hard conditions and cruel nature of unscrupulous men who took advantage of homeless and voiceless young girls like
Chisoma was not born in the streets,however all this happened after the death of her mother.She was then adopted by her Auntie, that's her late mother's younger sister.After a petty mistake Chisoma did,that is when she stole 200naira out of her Aunty's purse to buy food out of hunger,she was caught and beaten severely with coated wire,when she couldn't take it any longer,she ran out of the house.Her Aunty dared her not to come back or she was going to skin her alive if she did. Out of fear and as young as she was,she never returned again.
She was then just 11 years old.The streets became her home,she moved from one place to the other in search of food and shelter.When the rains came, her only solace was either a roofed uncompleted building,or kiosk nearby.This exposed her to a lot of dangerous people who frequently abused her sexually either in exchange for food or shelter.
The only thing that kept her going was these last words her mother told her during her last days before she passed away "Never forget the love of God".As young as she was the love of God only meant that God is keeping her alive.
Now that she is 16 years,for no reason,she just kept on believing in God,not that God had actually done anything beyond the extraordinary for her but for the fact that she had hope and lifeThis was the moment she went through the most difficult time in her life. Where she was raped by a gang during one of her stay in the kiosk.She noticed she was pregnant barely 2 months after.Now, for a young girl like Chisoma to be pregnant created the impression that she sleeps around with men to earn money.This notion made it difficult for people to even help her anymore.Her struggles just began.
On the ninth month when she was expected to deliver,somehow it never came to pass and so did the tenth month until the eleventh month.People thought she was even cursed and the baby she was carrying may have already died in her womb.When finally she was in labor, no one offered to help her,until this young man who happened to be driving by heard her cry from the kiosk where she was.Out of curiosity,he went and found Chisoma in labor.Without thinking twice,he helped her into his car and quickly drove her to the hospital.
The news was no different,she was still in pain,then finally the moment came.She pushed harder.That was the time, a new child was born.But not all were right.There was no cry,no body movement.The room was filled with silence.Chisoma rested on her back asking to hold the new born baby but the nurse who was holding the baby didn't look happy.The baby was lifeless when he came out.It was a baby boy but unfortunately it was not alive.Adjoa noticed it and instantly knew that her baby was long gone.She wept,it hurt her so much just like the death of her late mother.Even though she had nothing to offer in terms of giving the child healthy living condition,it was the only thing that could keep her alive since she didn't feel part of any family.She cried for her loss.It really hurt her but sixteen year old Chisoma never stopped praying.That was what her mother had taught her. She was brought up in that way,so it became part of her.To her,God keeping her alive alone through her condition was enough for her.She didn't ask for more.She only spent time in thanking and asking for more long life to endure the pains of the earth.Chisoma never set her eyes on her father but only saw him in a picture.According to her late mother, her father died serving for the country in a peace keeping war far away in Sierra Leone.He was a military man and left for a mission when Chisoma's mother was only four months pregnant.That was the last time Chisoma's mother set her eyes on him.The next thing she heard was the death of her husband.That was when things began changing for Chisoma's mother.Through her struggles,she was able to raise Chisoma up till the age of nine where she was finally called by God.
All this while,Clement stood at the OPD waiting for a good news that Chisoma had delivered safely.He was on his way to work when he heard the cry on Chisoma from the kiosk.Clement got married recently and for three years he has been praying to God together with his wife Benita for a child.Though,they have all been medically proven healthy enough to bear children,her wife was yet to conceive.In a nutshell,they were a good couple and Christians too.Benita on the other hand had her own short comings. She was so much clinging to Clement's past.There was this one time that Clement was caught cheating on Benita right at his office.By then,they had not yet gotten married.It took time for Benita to forgive him but however she eventually did.That was not all,Benita was a good wife by all standards but she always used Clement's cheating past against him.Anytime they had issues just like any other couple,she will find a way of referring Clement to his past.With this attitude,Clement always felt that he owes his wife a lot.The more Benita made references to Clement's past the more Clement drew himself away from her.There were times that it became unbearable for him that he almost gave up in his marriage.The only thing he had to do now to keep his marriage safe and also stop Benita his wife from talking about his past was to avoid conflict as much as he can.He had passion for kids and always wished to have one of his own.By as you know,God's time is always the best.
Finally,he saw a nurse coming out from Chisoma's ward.He quickly approached her and asked"Nurse,how is the young lady doing, the one I brought in some couple of hours ago,how is she?" Clement asked.
"Oh she is doing well sir." The Nurse answered.
"Has she been able to deliver, what about the baby" Clement quickly followed up with the question.
"Hmm, Its unfortunate sir, she lost the baby. We did everything we could" The Nurse said and went away leaving Clement there speechless.Chisomw remained at the hospital for three days,with Clement taking care of her feeding and all other hospital expenses.She was finally discharged on the third day.Clement couldn't bear the fact that he was going to leave Chisoma back on the unsafe streets.He needed to do something about it.For the meantime,he took Chisoma to a hotel and booked a room for her there until he gathers the courage to tell his wife about this Chisoma girl he had met.But upon getting home after he had left the hotel where Chisoma was,to his surprise,his wife Benita was already aware of it.As soon as he opened the door to his living room,there stood Benita looking very angry and standing right behind the door"Can you tell the business you were having at "Golden Paris Hotel"? As far as I'm concerned,you were supposed to be at your office meeting with Josh and his partners to seal the deal." Benita said.She was a smart lady, she had made all her enquiries and was well informed about what was going on at Clement's office.She knew Clement may give the excuse that he was going to have a business meeting at the hotel just like the way he lied to her some time ago only to find out that he was at his office flirting with a colleague.