A Weakness Called Love: Memoirs of an African Housemaid

CHAPTER ONE

It was night and the moon was shining brightly, a perfect day for our night games. I was eager to go to the village ground/ square because I know definitely he was going to be there. Yes, mudi my beloved will be there. I had to dress my best to get his attention. Although he is unaware of my feelings for him, I was determined to make him mine. I brought out my newest wrapper. It was blue and had paintings of a red peacock on it. It was sown by hajiya talatu, our village greatest fashion designer(tailor). I have'nt gotten a single new wrapper for a year, when my mother sold her new dishes(samira) she brought a wrapper each for me and my siblings, to save us from the antagonizing backbiting and side remarks of the villagers . she had been saving for 5 years, whenever the money reaches an amount that will buy her a dish, she buys and keep it. She says she is saving for our marriage. Those dishes are valuable in my village and they fetch a buyer easily. I brought our loose red powder. I put a sizable amount in my palms and quickly robbed it over my face, it was not very smooth so I had to take my time to apply it gently. I brought our kohl which is made from either grounded charcoal or from the remains of burned tyres . I did not know which mine was made from, I do not care to know, as long as it served its purpose and it did. It was held together by a transparent white nylon wrapped around its and a matchstick is carefully inserted for easy application. I felt a sticky moisture on my palms,it made me looked at my palms quickly, my hand was smeared with the black sticky content. I hissed, knowing it must have been my sister who caused the damage, that girl is never careful, I thought. Once I have made enough money I will be getting one exclusively for myself. I grabbed the matchstick and ran it through the tips of my eyelids, Put on a red lipstick over my lips. After tying by green and black head tie, I grabbed my shinny orange veil and headed for the door.

Just then my mother shouted 'Ladi' putting her hands on her chest, I was startled and was taken aback by how loud she was. 'Hajiya what's wrong' I asked startled, certain something was wrong. "what are you wearing? Are you insane?". Oh so this was what this is about. I kept quite and didn't say a word, because come hell come heaven I wasn't changing. I was going to wear these clothes for a reason and not all the world's yelling can make me change into something less elegant, today is the beginning of a new phase in my life. Yes! A new phase, today i stop daydreaming and Pursue the man of my dreams. I know society expects the man to make the first move .But I'm done waiting.

Asabe my uncle's wife who was watching us from a corner moved closer and said angrily take them off, are you going to a wedding?'. My mum became uncomfortable, she always concedes to my every demand, although the entirety of the village think there were always unreasonable. I glared at Asabe, before focussing my gaze on the ground. My mother then said "I guess you can wear it just for tonight, after tonight you shall only wear them on weddings and special occasions". I smiled and walk pass Asabe with a glare, who was dumbfounded .

Our courtyard wasn't much. But it was spacious, about a hectare. It has different huts made of mud and thatched roof , and other small sized rooms made of mud that were roofed with aluminium iron sheets. Different families from my father's lineage live in that house. Each having a room or two rooms, depending no the number of wives that family member has. Whenever a male member is getting married, he constructs room and his wife moves in with the family. The females move to their husbands' house. My grandfathers hut is at the far end of the compound, next to it are two adjoined rooms, for his two wives: Memununari and salamatu .Salamatu is my grandmother, she is about 55 years old while Maimunari is in her mid twenties, she bore him four children. My grandfather's brothers Saleh and iro also live in a hut Each . Saleh lost his wife a year ago, all his children are married so they live in separate huts. But he lives alone. My 5 brothers are also married and live in the compound separately also.Dauda the youngest brother of my father and husband to Asabe, the evesdroppinny Asabe. Iro my father's brother recently moved out of our compound because his family had grown rapidly over the years. He needed a compound of his own. There were roughly about 50 people living in my house. I was out of the house. I decided to check on my friend shatu (who also happen to be my cousin, she is a daughter to my uncle dauda, who recently moved out) so we can hit the village square together. I was in a foul mood, I had Asabe to thank for that. I had reached the entrance to their room, when I stopped on my tracks, suddenly I had a change of mind, I was not going to enter her house anymore. I shouted 'shatu', there was silence, for some reason that angered me, I shouted on the top of my lungs ' shatu. ' a couple more times before she appeared with her mother behind. I ignored the mother and focused on the daughter instead, not bothering to greet, I said to shatu 'are you going or not'. The mother cleared her throat, to make me aware of her presence. Now I will have to endure a conversation with , the nosy woman. Good evening I said curtly. No sooner had i closed my mouth and she had already started.

' I don't know what you guys have been doing in the village games, but you have to try a lot harder to get yourselves out there, have you heard Gaji had already gotten a suitor, and she is two years younger than you two. You are fifteen for god sakes, the lord knows I don't want to end up with the likes of hajji Sani For an in law'

This was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don't have to be reminded of my failure, I know I was in a danger zone and my body is not exactly helping. I still had breasts the size of a peanut, gaji on the other hand has full breasts and she is only 13. I am slim and tall, at least taller than most of my age mates, my face was oval shaped, I have a fair skin tone, thick plum lips and a fairly pointed nose. Shatu is chubby which is attractive but she walks like a retard, her body shaking after every move. She has a round face, small nose and a slightly big lip. She had a high pitched voice, her breast were not big but at least they were visible. She was not poised at all. She can go into a physical combat with anyone, anywhere, but she was strong. And beats all her opponents. I somehow like her for it. I had A bad mouth and often do not chose my words carefully, together we are the tornado. We took no shit, we were a force to be reckoned with.