A Close Call When Things Could've Gone So Bad

Have you ever been in a situation where things could have gone really bad for you? And then you look back and feel like there were some higher powers working to save you or to help you escape the situation? in today's article I want to share with you one such situation. It's something that happened to me a long time ago, but this morning I somehow thought about it and made a TikTok Video about it and thought why not give you the whole story here?

I mean on Tiktok you have limited time to share a story, so it's hard to actually give the details. OK, I don't remember the exact year but I think I was about 13 or 14 years old. For you to get the picture I must set the scene first. My mother's cousin had come to my grandmother's place to ask if I could go and stay with her for a few days because she was about to have a baby and I was to go and help her out.

My Childhood Was Not So Great, I Was One Of Those Children That Other Family Members Use

You know in a family there are some children where maybe the mother did not stay married, or maybe she had babies with different men, and then she couldn't take care of the children or she just abandoned the children. Those kind of children have it really rough in life especially if they are abandoned by their mother.

The family members who are let's say well off, rather than helping those children, they instead take advantage of them and use them. For example, if the child has been chased out of school for lack of school fees, rather than the wealthy family member volunteering to pay for the child to go back to school, they rejoice because now they can just take the child and make her/him the servant.

OK, now I think you are getting the idea of where my story is heading, The time my mother's cousin came over to take me so I can go take care of her while she is having her baby, I was chased from school for lack of school fees, her children were going to school just fine, but me I had to go and be her servant.

The Day When I Almost Died She Locked Me In A Room

One evening, We were sitting in the kitchen, which is separate from the main house, there was a big charcoal banner ( Jiko For Swahili Speakers)  There was a big saucepan on the charcoal banner don't remember what we were cooking. We heard a commotion outside. As we got up to go and see, my mother's cousin told me to stay and look after the food while she and her kids went outside.

I sat there and, I started feeling dizzy, and it started getting very hot in the room, and I went to open the door, and I could not open it, it was locked from outside. I tried to scream but I was not able to, and I fell to the ground. When I woke up I found myself outside, surrounded by people, who said that I almost died.

When I moved my head, I started bleeding from my nose. My mother's cousin didn't even look bothered. Later when I asked how they found out that I was in trouble, they said that it was a neighbor who asked where I was. They said I was in the kitchen looking after the food, she said that she has a feeling that all is not well and they should check up on me.

I Don't Know How She Did It But If It Weren't For Her Gut Feeling, I Would Be Dead.

Call It Universe, Call It Higher Power, But I call it God. I believe I was saved that day The lady who said that they should check up on me was a very prayerful woman. My life was not worth much to my mother's cousin, but somehow it was worth something to God and to that servant of God who saved me.

When my mother's cousin was asked why she would lock me in a room with a Jiko and no ventilation, she said that'' hawa watoto wa Njeri hata wakikufa nani atajali? ni watu wa mashida tu"

Translation, "these Njeri's(Njeri Is my Mother's name) Children even if they die who cares, they are nothing but trouble anyway"

No Matter How Hard It Gets, Never Abandon Your Children

I must admit, people from my tribe (Kikuyu) need to do better when it comes to their children. Sure, relationships fail and marriages break, but the parents must agree on how the children will be raised. This business of chukuwa watoto wako uende(take your children and go) needs to stop.

The children didn't ask to be born, so the same way you came together to create babies, it's the very same way you need to come together and raise the children even when the relationship breaks down. The thing is, when people know that the children have their parents taking care of them, no one will try to misuse the children.

Even If You Don't Have Much Just Be Involved In Their Lives

And it's not just about money, even if you are not well off, just be involved in your children's lives. It's very important, it's better for the children to know that Dad And Mom love us and they would've given us the world if they could, but they have done their best with what they had.

Also its very important that the parents stop using children as weapons against each other. If the father wants to see his children, he should see his children. And if the mother is the one taking care of the children, the father also should participate.

Pay for your children's education, provide what you can, and most of all, talk to your children, you divorced their Mother/Father you should not divorce your children

Conclusion

I have been in many situations, where things could have gone terribly for me, but somehow I was able to survive. I just want you to know that your life is valuable, it might not seem so sometimes, but it is. It's just a matter of taking one day at a time even when it gets tough.

Let me leave you with this quote "be kind to people because they are fighting battles you know nothing about"

Thank you for your time.

Rose.