"Wake up,Koima! Wake up quickly, for the sun has risen beyond the hills!" Shouted Tatu,Koima's mother,from outside the hut.Koima woke up with a start, annoyed that her mother had just interrupted her beautiful dream.She donned her dress and sandals and walked out lazily.
"What is it, mother? It's still so early!" She was still wondering why she had had such a dream: In the dream,she had witnessed her near coronation as the Queen of Dawala! And just as she got up to receive the Crown,her mother called her!
Her father, Fula,was already milking the cows in the shed, whistling to himself, oblivious to the happenings around him.Afterwards,he expected Tatu to have prepared him hot sour porridge from the fermented milk of the day before, accompanied by sweet potatoes of yesteday night.Life was good, wasn't it?
Meanwhile, Koima got out a container, ready to go get some water from the river,as her mother hustled to prepare breakfast.This was their daily routine, with which she was so contented, wasn't she? Unbeknown to her, this routine was soon to end...
Back at home, her mother quickly prepared the porridge, served her father, left some in the jug for her,and got busy weeding in the garden behind the house.This woman was so hardworking: As a young girl, she had prayed for a good husband,and a house full of children.So far God had given her a good husband, but children...
Koima was already thirteen, and much as she had tried, no other child was forthcoming! How she envied those women who had children strapped on their backs, as they swung their ample waists, on their way to market? Once in a while, she would hear snide remarks from other women, about the barren woman,who would never allow her husband to remarry, and she would pretend to ignore, but deep inside she was burning in pain! Why would God let her suffer so much?
As for her husband, hadn't she pestered him to get a woman who could give him children? How could she be taken for a wicked woman? She only prepared his meals in time, and ensured he was presentable whenever he went out.How was this wicked? As for barrenness, didn't she have Koima? Granted, Koima was a girl, but wasn't she a child all the same? How she wished she would make people understand! Koima was such a sensible child; if only she would enrol her in school...
Now that she thought about it, how she wished there was a school nearby; she would definitely enrol her, just like her brothers' daughters in far away Kapita Village. Maybe then, she would become a doctor, and then treat her barrenness... Barrenness? Maybe then she would get married to a successful man, and get the children that she never had...There and then, she resolved to do something about this.
Just as she was lost in her thoughts, she heard a voice from the front arena...'That must be Kasuka', she thought to herself,as she warily left her hoe and moved over to meet her.Kasuka was the village gossip,and many times her stories were either half-truths or pure lies.'When will this woman learn to mind her own business?' she thought sadly...
