1 Abandoned

Children, are the lights of the world. If you have kids, then you will understand what I am talking about. Children are soft minded, forgiving and loving. So I thought I was. As a little child, I thought I should be all that my parents ever needed. I thought I should be treated like a puppy. I needed to be nortured and mortified into a man that I should be. I didn't have to think about my daily bread, neither do I have to care so much about going to school because I wasn't born by myself. I was only five years old, then my Dad went to Jail. My mom could not handle the situation, so I was taken to live with my grandmother in the village. Then my mother disappeared and never came back for me. Many nights I cried, hoping that she'll be back. Days gone by, there was no traces of my mom coming back for me. My loving father is in jail, I heard people don't usually go to jail and come back to still be themselves again, yet I waited for him to show up so I can continue to enjoy my childhood. But the waiting, will only take forever as there was nobody coming back for me.I had to stay strong. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I was only left with a choice to be strong. Six years gone by, Mother didn't come back. My grandmother is kind enough to take care of me to the best of her ability. But she couldn't do all, because she was only a farmer, she cannot afford to send me to school, she didn't have the money. Grandmother didn't want me, growing up in the village to become an ordinary farmer. She wanted me to be more. So I was moved back to the city to live with my Aunty, My father's elder sister. Aunty Mary was a trader, while her husband worked as a nurse. When I moved in with them, I thought it would be just the same way it was with my grandmother, where I always get almost everything I wanted. My struggle to survive began at the age of Eleven, when I moved in with my Aunty and her husband. The instructions from my grandmother was that I should be properly taken care of. That I should go to school, that my Aunty and her husband should ensure my well-being. But they would not do as my grandma instructed. I was treated by my Aunty as a slave and a total stranger. I was meant to do all domestic works, these include laundry and washing dishes. I would wash my Aunt's and her husband's clothes, including their underwear with my hands. I had to wash their children's clothes too. Even though I was doing all of these, it was never enough for this family. I get beaten day by day, sometimes I had to bleed. My cousins were in their twenties , yet I had to be the one to wash their clothes and wash the dishes when they're done eating. I was made to Hawk even though I was Eleven and I barely know my way around. I couldn't even get a chance to play with other kids, If I wasn't doing chores at home, I would be in the market hawking. I didn't get a chance at all to be a kid. So I was enduring, hoping that one day I will taste freedom and all I had to go through will become history. But tasting freedom would be a long journey ahead of me.