IMPART. CONTEST #163

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It's Harmattan season, the month of December where we celebrate Christmas and let go of all the toxic vibes for the year. It's that season that has enough love in the air for everyone to share. It's very good to give every other day whenever you can, Christmas or not.

There are downsides to all the positive energy in the air, one of them is the cold. It can get nasty in the middle of the night especially if you forget to close your windows and fortify yourself against the cold, or else you will end up with a souvenir in the morning, dry cough, nasal congestion, and maybe even the onset of fever.

"I'm done." Bello, the boy who
tends my garden announced.

I looked around the garden and nodded in satisfaction, not that I expected anything less than a good job. He was very good at it. Bello is 8 years old, and the question I would ask if I saw a boy that young tending to another person's garden was "Why would you put such a little boy to work?" Good question, you see, I was always giving Bello gifts, and young as he was, he never accepted them. Bello would grow up to be a respectable adult, you can tell already.

He made it clear he wanted no handouts and would rather work for me and get paid. I told him I tend to my garden myself, so there was no need for him to work for me before I gave anything. I lost the argument with him and I discovered that he liked doing it, so I let him.

He was the first child of his parents and had only one sibling, a girl, Bella, aged five years. I first came across Bello and his family a few months ago, at the gate to my estate. He was with his mother and sister, and they were begging for alms. It was such a pitiful sight, and I gave what I could to them.

They were there the next day, the day after, and soon, it became their regular spot. I started looking forward to seeing them every day on my way to work. Why? Their gratitude lifts my soul. They always were happy and smiling whenever I saw them, and as soon as they saw me too, the kids usually came running to me, dressed in tattered clothes.

I took it upon myself to get clothes for them which I did. I would go over to talk to their mother where she is seated always dressed in a long gown or a top and skirt.

One day, I couldn't keep calm anymore, so I asked her to tell me their story. I badly wanted to know how they ended up in that situation and why she couldn't get a job instead of sitting at the same spot every day to beg for alms. Where was her husband by the way?

She told me she lost her husband to the uprising in the North, and she had to leave her home there and abscond with the kids after she was able to arrange for transportation out of all the chaos.She left all their properties behind, so she could flee with her life and her children. They had no family that she knew of cause she was an orphan and her husband was too and they met in the orphanage. She would have loved to work, it just wasn't possible. The uprising she told me about cost her both legs, she was unlucky enough to be in the path of a grenade. She bunched her skirt up and showed me her legs. Both legs were amputated and I didn't know when the tears rolled down my cheeks, it was so emotional.

Even if she could somehow work which she couldn't, who would look after her kids? I don't have much, but right there and then, I promised God that I would do all I could to help this family. I won't go into details, but God has been faithful. I was even able to enroll both kids at school.

I became an aunty to the kids and a good friend to their mother. She would call to report Bello to me whenever he wet his sleeping mat. I'll scold him playfully and give him tips on how to stop wetting the mat.

I woke up shivering in the middle of the night last week, and I ran to my window to close the blinds. I had slept off on the tiles while doing some work, and it was left open, seducing the harmattan breeze to come in and give it to me.

I went to bed, armed with my duvet, and snuggled under it on the bed. Somehow, I couldn't sleep, my thoughts kept drifting to Bello and his family who despite the cold had to sleep on a mat on the floor. It was disheartening, and I felt guilty. Life is hard for some people.

I have an extra family-sized mattress in my guest room which hasn't been used for a long time. Why don't I just give it to him? I considered the value I got the mattress for when I purchased it and concluded that it was silly of me to think about the price I paid. It will be more useful to Bello during this season than the mat he has been sleeping on. I have no use for it. It has been accumulating dust all these while. What will be my gain if I let it get damaged in the house?

I have decided that if any material gift is going to be given this December, it's going to be the mattress for Bello and that's because I love his positivity to life despite everything he has been through at such a young age. He has even once confessed to me that he missed the feel of sleeping on a mattress, it's been so long since he did. It's the season to show and spread love. Who better to give than him?