A need timely met

It was late afternoon. Memuna was driving a dozen cattle with a long bamboo stick into the yard. She had the most alluring face with big bright eyes and a pleasant pearly white smile. Her skin, the colour of polished earthenware glistened in the hot sun from the constant use of shea butter. Her elder brothers had at this point abandoned the cattle to her shepherding as she was more than enthusiastic to do the very things culturally assigned to the men in the family.

Memuna was the 3rd daughter of Baba Issah who many simply addressed as Alhaji not necessarily because he had been to the holy city but because he was considered rich in the Sissala township where they lived.

Alhaji had 3 wives who he had borne a total of 11 children. His first wife, Aunty Aisha gave him 2 daughters followed by 7 sons, his second wife Fati, Aisha’s mother bore him another son after birthing Memuna. The youngest wife and the one he married just a year ago, Nafisatu, a 20 year old was yet to have any children for him.

Alhaji was a respected man of the community with expansive grazing fields for large herds of cattle he owned as well as farmlands which his family cultivated millet, sorghum, shea trees and kola nuts. In his household, he had two rooms for all the sons to share and a room for the daughters to share.

Fortunately, almost all the sons had married and moved into their own homes with their wives. Memuna’s two older sisters had also been given into early marriage by 16 years and so were hardly around. This was the world Memuna grew up in, raising cattle with her family and working tirelessly throughout the harvest season.

She had just turned 12 and was growing so fast and so beautifully that Baba Issah was often reminded by his friends that Memuna would one day fetch him a large dowry.

Of a truth, amongst all his daughters, she was the prettiest. He had also made the most investment into Memuna, in terms of giving her education. Sometimes he was reminded that regardless of that, she was going to be given to another man and bear kids for him, making her education useless.

He had allowed Memuna’s schooling because Fati had been in his ears, sharing her hopes that Memuna would make it big out of the little town and perhaps become a pupil’s teacher. That was Fati’s dream for her daughter.

Until recently, Baba Issah had entertained similar hopes too but not anymore. He secretly started looking for suitors amongst families that had sons of age. He was afraid that by making an exception with Memuna, things might rather not turn out well. What if education fills her head with too many nonsense ideas that she aspires to be something unimaginable perhaps abominable.

He loved his daughter very much and would do the best thing for her: find a reputable family and give her a good husband.

Presently, under the shade of the large baobab tree in the compound, the women of the house were cooking the evening meal. The women were so busy grinding millet, sifting the grains and going on to make a steamy dish of millet, all the while gisting so much that when visitors walked into the compound they hardly noticed.

It was a group of community health nurses going door-to door to scout for children that needed to be vaccinated against the childhood killer diseases.

“Agooooo” The Community nurses announced. This was enough to draw the attention of the women and the nurses were warmly received as Memuna quickly went to get stools for them. The nurses started engaging them and though there was no little child around to be vaccinated, the women joked that perhaps in a year, they would have a new addition to the family from Nafisatu’s end. They encouraged the nurses to visit again in a year’s time. After some chatter and laughter, they listened intently as the nurses took the opportunity to educate the women on clean water, sanitation, and food hygiene.

Memuna was particularly in awe of how articulate the young women were and that very moment she caught a vision of becoming a community health expert. This very encounter caused her to start pursuing and finding every information about Community Health. It wasn’t long before she chanced upon a scholarship Programme for young girls in STEM education. With the help of Madam Selena, her mathematics teacher, she contacted the scholarship secretariat and forwarded her personal information as required. She was promised some correspondence in 2 months’ time and Memuna began to count the days to it.

Months passed with no news from the secretariat. Memuna had continued with her duties at home and working hard at school.

Unbeknownst to her, her father had found her a suitable husband from a good family. Sometime later, while their impending union was being discussed, Memuna accidentally overheard her father and his visitors, her supposed to-be husband’s family.

A cold chill ran through her as she quickly ran to find her mother. Fati on hearing the news, was so annoyed that she nearly walked into the meeting to disrupt it. However, in order not to disrespect her husband, she intended to bring it up later in the night. Memuna was afraid of the outcome. She knew she would one day be married but not this soon. She saw it happen with her sisters, but she was too young to understand the implications of it. Now, she had a better view of things and felt like she had so much to discover about herself; she was yet to live. She then confided in her mother about the scholarship she had applied for and shared all about it. A glint of light showed in Fati’s eyes. There was indeed hope. “Memuna, take me to Madam Selena’s house” Fati requested. Memuna was lost at her mother’s request, but she obliged.

On arrival, the mathematics teacher was beside herself with joy as she had just received an email from the secretariat stating that there was a scholarship opportunity opened for Aisha and any two brilliant girls. This was exactly what they needed, much like an answered prayer. A need timely met. Fati then devised a plan.

Since Alhaji had his own secret plans concerning their daughter, she was going to have her own secret plans as well. Before the end of her sixth grade, they were going to put things in place to move her to a boarding junior high school in the South where she would continue her education while on the STEM scholarship.

She was going to do this even if it meant not hearing from her own daughter. Memuna was not going to suffer the same fate as she did, dropping out of school, being given into marriage without a choice and without a sense of self. This happened just as planned. Several years later, Memuna, now a Public Health physician returned to her childhood home with her fiancé and mission to change lives. For that one scholarship and a fierce mother’s support she journeyed a path no one from her town had treaded before. She had gotten to the pinnacle of success bringing education and transformation to communities, but she first had to be given room to discover herself (potential, identity, purpose).

She championed reforming cultural norms that underserved communities and became one of the most influential persons of her time.

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