‘All my children stopped schooling after their father’s death’

The story of Aisha Abbas is pathetic. Her ordeals is heart wrenching. From losing her husband to catering for 10 children with little or nothing, Aisha believes that life, without a shadow of doubt, has been unfair to her. As she narrates her story, one could feel the pain in her heart and the stress in her eyes.

Left with the responsibility to cater for herself and her children on her shoulders, Aisha travelled about a 1000 kilometers from her home state, Kano, in search of food and good living for herself and her children 13 years ago.

Though it was a hard decision for Aisha to leave home, the wife of a late primary school teacher has sadly ended on the streets of Ibadan, Oyo State begging to survive and to also provide for her children.

“I am from Kano State, Gwarzo Local Government Area; I have been here for a very long time. I came to Ibadan when my husband died 13 years ago. He fell sick and died. He was a teacher before he died. His demise came three months after he was promoted from a classroom teacher to a supervisor,” she told Saturday Tribune on a busy Ibadan street during the week.

“I was pregnant and had nine children while my co-wife had seven children when he died. So he left us with 16 children in all.

“A few months after his demise, I lost one of my daughters as well, and years later, I lost another. My mother and some of my relatives were supporting me to take care of the children after my husband passed on but I lost my mother too some years ago and since then, it has been me taking care of the children alone,” she lamented.

She said the children had to drop out of school because she could no longer afford to keep them in school and because she feared that they might fall into crime, she resorted to begging in other to provide for them.

“Before my husband’s demise, all our children were in school but after he died, they all had to stop because I could not afford to pay their fees. So I started begging in other to get what to eat. I didn’t want to leave them hungry or thirsty because they will be vulnerable to crime and other vices. They could start stealing. The girls will follow men and do some other bad things, so I decided to come here and start begging,” she said.

As the reality of life bites harder, Aisha said she decided to let her daughters get married since she could not afford to keep them in school.

“Some of them are married, they now have their homes. I decided to marry them off,” she said.

Aisha said her people, rich Hausas in the north, “don’t care about the less privileged.” She felt that “those who do not know you are most likely to help you. I came all the way just to look for food. You know the North? The rich Hausas don’t really care about us. Though some of them give, but you have to be in Kano city to get something.

“They (northerners) are our brothers but the person that knows you well will not help you that much but here in Ibadan, people help us a lot. So, I just go back home occasionally to visit my children.”

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