•29-yr-old single mother tells sad story
She is cute; fair-complexioned. But the sadness on her face was unmistakable, reflecting in her lifeless eyes. Sitting under an umbrella at the bustling Ibom Plaza in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, like the biblical lame at the Beautiful Gate, beautiful Esther looked expectant yet weary. A young woman whose life had been marked by tragedy from an early age.
“My name is Esther Effiong. I am 29 years old,” she began, narrating her struggles. She explained that she wasn’t always blind. Once a regular girl from Ibiono Local Government Area, she lived a normal life despite losing her parents at a young age. She was in Junior Secondary School (J.S.S 3), preparing for her exams, and was also an apprentice hair stylist.
One fateful day, while returning from her apprenticeship, she felt sand in her eyes. She thought it was something her elder sister could easily blow out, not knowing that this seemingly minor incident would change her life forever.
“I’m from Ibiono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. I am not married, but I have a four-year-old son,” she said.
“I wasn’t born blind. I was living a normal life with my elder sister because both our parents had passed away—my mother in 2007 and my father in 2009.
“In 2010, when I was about 14, I went to my aunt’s place. She was a hair stylist at the time, and I was learning from her. One day, after school, I was returning home from the shop when I felt sand enter my eyes. I rushed home, and my sister tried to blow it out, but it was to no avail.
“The next day, we went to Mercy Hospital in Abak, where they told us there was nothing wrong with my eyes. We left and managed to gather money to seek help elsewhere. At another hospital in Calabar, the doctor diagnosed me with an eye worm and said nothing could be done.
“Months later, the symptoms spread to my other eye, and I became completely blind. Since then, I have been blind. Because of this, I couldn’t finish secondary school. I was in J.S.S 3 when it happened, and I had to drop out.”
With no means of survival, Esther had to depend on her sister. To make ends meet, she started selling melon seeds with money someone gave her. Her sister would go to the market to buy the melon, Esther would peel it, and her sister would sell it alongside her own petty trade. She stayed with her sister from 2010 until 2020.
“I had to leave around the COVID-19 period because my sister got married. She asked me to move out after her wedding. I left and started living with a friend in Itam. I also had to stop the melon business because there was no profit in it.
“I began attending the Assemblies of God Church, where members sometimes helped me with food and clothes. But at other times, I come here to beg so that I can have money to feed myself,” she explained.
As if life hadn’t been difficult enough, things took an even worse turn when a man she thought loved her abandoned her after getting her pregnant.
“Around 2020, I went to a church for prayers, and that’s where I met a man named Daniel. He told me he loved me and wanted to marry me. I believed him and accepted his proposal, thinking I had finally found love.
“But the moment I got pregnant and told him about it, he disappeared. He cut me off completely and has never reached out—not during the pregnancy, not even now. He ran away from me.
“My son is four years old now. He helps us by selling sachet water to survive. The money he makes, along with what I get from begging and the little assistance from my church, is what I use to pay for his school fees, house rent, and food,” she said.
Although life has been tough, she has no regrets about having her son. Even at such a young age, he already helps sustain them.
“It’s not always much, but we thank God. Sometimes, I make about ₦2,000; other times, I go home with just ₦1,000 or ₦3,000. It depends. It’s not easy, even for those who give us money.
“Before now, before things became so expensive, I could go home with ₦4,000 to ₦8,000 daily. But now, things have changed drastically. There are times we even go to bed hungry, but we still thank God for life.
“If there’s one thing I truly need, it’s support to start a business. I would love to own a provision shop where my son can help with sales so that we can have a better life. I want to give him more than he has now.
“We live in a single room in Itam, where I pay ₦3,500 rent every month. It’s from the money I make sitting here that I pay my rent.
“If the government can do anything for people like us—those with special needs—it would help us feel less hopeless.”
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