Emmy's Tale Season 4

Inspiring Story of a Lagos Mum

By Emmanuel Abazu

Mama Emily as she is popularly called, is a mum of four beautiful girls living in Lagos. She has a shop in one of the markets in Lagos where she buys and sells ladies wears. She has been in this line of business for over two decades. Business is doing well despite its ups and down she would say, at least it pays the bills.

Her husband at one time worked in the bank and rose to the position of a Branch Manager. Life was good, and the way he demonstrated it was to have chains of women friends or concubines if you like,he brought them home, other times he would lodge in a hotel with them for as long as a month. Some of these women started having children for him outside wedlock and it was really difficult for Mama Emily to get money from him for the upkeep of the home.

As fate would have it, he was affected by a mass disengagement of employees of the bank and that was the beginning of her woes. Her husband interpreted his loss of job as an attack from his hometown and refused to go in search of an alternative source of livelihood. He would sit at home and not go anywhere nor do anything.

This put a lot of pressure on Mama Emily.

She was faced with payment of their house rent, children’s school fees, hospital bills, food and other household supplies and general upkeep of the home. She struggled to make ends meet and to keep her business going. She would take loans to pay her children’ s school fees and then pay off gradually from the proceeds of her sales. Sometimes when it was really tough her siblings would send some money to support her. She made up her mind to give her children the best she could possibly afford. And that was exactly what she did but not without a lot of pain and sacrifice.

Today two of her daughters are graduates and gainfully employed,they support her in taking care of the other two currently in the university as well as their dad. That is a lot of weight off her shoulders. But her greatest joy is that her daughters turned out right. They have all grown to be decent and responsible.

It could only a strong woman like her, though not educated but courageous enough to stand up for her girls and for her entire family. She was willing to seek support when she needed it,she remained faithful to her calling as a mum and today she is reaping the fruits of her labour.

A lot of mothers are going through similar experiences and do not know how to get the support they need to face such situations. Talk to someone, if you have no one to talk to you feel free to contact us. We all at one time or the other need someone to help us see things from an entirely different perspective. A perspective more empowering, that will give us the courage to take a positive step in the right direction.

If you find yourself in similar situation, do not despair. Be strong for you and for your child(ren).