ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD

Once upon a time, in the village of Kilifi, there resided a woman named Fatuma. She was a kind and gentle woman, but also deeply saddened. She was married to Mr. Baraza for ten years, yet they had never been blessed with children. This caused Fatima great unhappiness, and the villagers would mock her whenever she passed by. She was even called a witch by some, but she chose to ignore their taunts and maintain her peaceful demeanor. She was an object of ridicule in the entire village, and was not allowed to attend the mother's meeting or the women's meeting. She would always watch from afar when such events took place.

One day, a meeting was being held in the Village Square. Fatuma, who had always been curious about the meeting and how it was conducted, decided to attend. However, as she stepped in among the women, she saw a group of them laughing at her. The first woman said to her, "What are you doing here? You don't belong here. This is a gathering for women, not men. Please leave us. Men are not allowed." They called her a man and mocked her. She was hurt by their words, but she did not say anything. She just turned and walked away. As she walked home, she thought about what had happened. She went home with tears on her face, and she couldn't stop crying. "I wish I could give you children," her husband said to her. "It is not your fault. I am just so tired of being mocked. Why is my life so different? Why do I have to go through all this humiliation? God, why have you forsaken me?" She was so sad that she continued crying bitterly, asking God to remember her as he remembered Hannah in the bible.

This made Fatuma stay indoors. She hardly left home, as each time she did, she would receive insults from other women. However, one day, there was no food in the house, and she decided to go to the market to buy some foodstuffs to prepare lunch for her husband, who would be back from work soon. Once she got to the market, she was about to walk past the stores when she saw a woman selling herbs. The woman called out to Fatuma and told her that she had special herbs that could help her have children. Fatuma did not believe her at first, but she was also desperate. She bought the herbs and took them home. Fatuma drank the herbs before going to bed. That night, she had a dream, in her dream, she saw a woman coming towards her, carrying a baby. The woman said to her, "Daughter, your prayers have been heard. You will soon be a mother, very, very soon. Do not cry."

Fatuma took the herbs again the next day and the day after that. Two weeks later, she discovered that she was pregnant. She was so happy that she couldn't believe it. She told her husband the good news, and he was overjoyed. After eight months, it was almost time to give birth. But the night before she was meant to give birth, she had another dream. In her dream, she saw the same old woman she had seen before. The woman said to her, "never shave your daughter's hair". Excited, after some time, Fatuma came curious about why she was asked never to cut her daughter's hair. But she didn't take it seriously and went on with her daily duties.

That evening, Fatima went into labor and there was a heavy rain, and so much thunder and lightning that everyone became scared. But she knew that everything was going to be okay. She had a special child inside of her, and she was going to do great things. After going through a lot of complications, she finally gave birth to a beautiful light-skinned baby girl. She and her husband named her Aisha. The villagers were amazed. They had never seen anything like this before. They stopped mocking Fatuma and started to praise and congratulate her. But some villagers were spreading rumors about what happened the previous night. Some said that the strong lightning and the heavy downfall was a sign of bad luck but Fatuma ignored the rumors and focused on raising her daughter.

Aisha grew up to be a beautiful and intelligent young woman. She was so beautiful that her peers were jealous of her beauty. She was also very kind and compassionate. Fatuma was so proud of her beautiful daughter Aisha. However, she didn't know that Aisha was born with spiritual powers. One day, Fatuma caught her daughter talking and laughing in her room alone and she was so surprised that she asked her.