My Family

My name is Mary, i am from a small village in west Africa and was about 20 years old, recently gave birth to my 3rd child when the war broke out between regions of my country. I left early to the farm to harvest some cassava before my toddlers and newborn could wake up from sleep that day.

Not long after i got to the farm i heard noises from the blades of helicopters, some sort of uproar and a man riding with his dog on his back really in a haste, it was quite funny to me but i had no idea what was about to happen or already happening. Still trying to figure out what was happening, i saw my step brother, sweating and somewhat running towards me all packed and demanded i come with him immediately. i took no time throwing away the basket that was on my head and asked what is going on, he told me that we are at war.

My brother demanded that i come with him immediately to the neighboring country for safety. i asked about my family and he said i was still young and can get a new family and that there is every chance that my family might be gone by now. I was gripped with fear but something other than my fear was in control of my emotions and that was my mothers intuition, i refused his offer i ran as fast as i could to get to my 5years, 3years and 2 months old that i left with my 13 years old sister because my husband might have left to his farm for it was planting season, that was the last i heard from my brother for years to come.

When i got home, i found out that the entire compound cleared out leaving just my teenage sister with my kids while it literally rained bullets. I met them very scared and crying because they had no adult around to tell them what to do or where to hide until we returned from far. Just in, my husband rushed into the compound almost same time as me to see his family scared and scattered in the big family compound, he was furious that his own brother could take his family to safety and ignore his but that was not what we were going to dwell on.

We packed the little we could for the main time and moved into the village to my mothers as it was safer there, we had to travel through the bushes to stay clear of the bullets and i got to realize it safer traveling at night because it was easier to dodge the bullets.

When we got to my mothers, she was already making plans of coming to our side because she refused the fact that we all might have died. She made provision for a place to stay that night and by morning, she took us to a cave that looked somewhat like a house which she already left during the early hours of the morning to make clean. it seemed safe but my husband said he was not going to risk his family lives living in a cave.

It was hard living in the open but was it worth it?....... of course

It was not easy but together, we stood as family. they were challenges like famine, diseases, no water because the streams and rivers were polluted with bodies, no good source of protein as our lifestocks was destroyed. We did our cooking with just salt and we were one of the families that had it good.

The war took about 4 years of our lives and when it was done, we had our fourth, His name is Azubuike (my strength comes from Behind)