My name is Uzoma. I'm from Ebonyi state, but I was born and raised in Ibadan, Oyo state. I lost my mother at an early age, soon after my father got remarried; I then lost one of my brothers to the Biafran war. Growing up, my stepmother was the proverbial 'wicked stepmother'. She maltreated me to the point where my father thought it best to marry me off to have a better life.
Despite my reluctance, my father forced me to marry a man from my state. My marriage wasn't pleasant. My husband and I built a small wooden house because we couldn't afford a solid structure; our means of livelihood was below meager. I hawked items on the streets of Lagos and worked for a variety of people to make ends meet as well as look after our children. To worsen matters, I was physically abused by my husband.
In 2019, my husband fell sick; his relatives and I moved him to the village to care for him, but he died. After we buried him, I returned to Lagos to begin life as a widow and to say that things were extremely tough would be putting it mildly; I had absolutely nothing to my name.
My first child, who is married and lives in the East, has had fibroid for eight years. She doesn't have the funds for surgery, and I can't afford it either. There's nothing more painful than seeing your child in pain and being unable to do anything about it.
As if things weren't bad enough, heavy rain swept away my belongings and damaged our wooden house when the country went into lockdown. That was when I resolved that we needed a better house, one built with cement.
As if things weren't bad enough, heavy rain swept away my belongings and damaged our wooden house when the country went into lockdown. That was when I resolved that we needed a better house, one built with cement.
Luckily for me, my friends advised me to get a loan from a microfinance bank which I did. I used the funds to start building a house, over time people have gifted me small sums of money all of which I pour into my building project.
Though still uncompleted, I am proud of what I have been able to put up and know that one day I will finish it.
As it is my grandchildren and I live in the house as is.
I know you are wondering why I, who is merely getting by, would add my grandchildren, 8 and 12 years old, to the mix. It's because I believe they have a better chance of survival with me than with their parents. There isn't much for them in the village, so I thought it better they come to Lagos and stay with me.
To earn a living, I sell fish in the market, on a good day, I make sales of about eight thousand-naira (N8,000), and on a bad day, I earn between four thousand (N4,000) - five thousand (N5,000) naira. It might seem like I make enough money to be comfortable, but due to trying to pay off my bank loan, costs associated with completing the building project as well as general day to day household expenses I rarely have any money left over.
Sometimes in bad months I don't have enough to make the loan repayments when due and the bank personnel come round to the community and embarrass me.
The house project is still ongoing; it has proven to be quite daunting. The walls are beginning to crack, even though I am nowhere near completing the house, but I will continue to persevere. I am building this house for myself for today but more than anything for my children and their children. It shall be my legacy.
In all of this, I am grateful to God for good Samaritans who even despite how difficult things are continue to show us benevolence.
I pray this food relief continues so as to enable us to repurpose the money we would have ordinarily spent on feeding to achieve other things like building a dream home for my family.
