Update 17

Maria dismissed the escort immediately. She had come home.

Matron Nene was walking with a stick, and it broke Maria’s heart to see her this way. She could tell that the ageing woman was not looking healthy. Besides the fact that she had aged considerably since the past ten years, she also looked a lot thinner – as if she had been starving herself for a decade.

Matron Nene stared deeply into Maria’s eyes and took careful strides down the steps. She walked towards Maria and stood a few inches from her. She reached a hand across and felt Maria’s face. The old woman could hardly believe her eyes. Tears came to her eyes as she said:

“Maria?”

Maria wept.

“It’s me, mama, it’s me.”

“I-I-I never thought I would ever see you again,” Nene said, “Where have you been all these years? Why have you left me all these years? My wish had always been to die with you by my bedside. I never imagined that my wish would be granted. God has answered my prayers. He has brought my daughter back to me.” She looked up to the sky, the ray of the sun reflecting through her tears. “Thank you, Lord. I will always serve you.”

Maria and Matron Nene hugged each other tight. They remained that way for a long time, not willing to leave each other alone. Through the hugs, they were catching up on those years they had been apart from each other. Maria felt like a child again, like that little girl that was loved and cared for by her mother. Oh, how she had missed Matron Nene so much. Matron Nene had always been her guardian angel, and she was grateful to have finally found her. She had come to the end of the earth to find her lost mother. She was most grateful that her mother was still alive, even though seeing her so sickly broke her to pieces. Well, she was going to take good care of her mother – Matron Nene was a saint; she was not supposed to fall sick this way.

Maria looked towards the door and saw a couple of kids less than ten years of age staring at them. She smiled and waved at them but they did not wave back. They looked unhappy and malnourished. Maria wondered what was wrong; she could not imagine that orphans would be unhappy under Matron Nene’s care. Something was out of place; well, she was going to find out.

Nene broke the hug and studied Maria better. Now she was smiling. “Oh, my Maria. Look at you. You are so beautiful. You have grown exactly into the kind of woman I thought you were going to become. You are so beautiful. I can imagine that men would be falling over heels in love with you.”

Maria laughed.

“Please come in,” Nene said, “We have a lot of things to talk about, my daughter.” She noticed the kids standing at the doorway and said, “Those are some of the children under my care.”

Maria looked around the large compound and her eyes caught the heaps she had initially noticed. “What are those?” she asked, pointing at them, “Did you plant some yam?”

Matron Nene quickly slapped Maria’s hand down. “Don’t. You shouldn’t point at them. It’s a taboo.”

Maria frowned. “Why?”

“That’s not a yam plantation, Maria. It’s a graveyard.”

Her eyes opened wide in astonishment. “Graveyard? That does not look like a graveyard. Those heaps are too small.”

“They are the graves of the children that died here.”

“What!” She looked at the heaps again. There were at least a hundred of them. She could not imagine that about a hundred children had died in this orphanage. How could that be possible?

“Let’s go in,” the old woman told her, “There’s a lot to talk about. I’m so glad you are here. I hope you would spend some days with me before you leave.”

Maria looked into Nene’s eyes and said, “I came to live with you, mama.”

Nene stopped walking and looked back at Maria. “What did you just say?”

“I came to live here with you,” Maria repeated, smiling.

Matron Nene shook her head. “No, you can’t live here.”

The smile disappeared from Maria’s face. She had thought her mother would be happy to hear that she wanted to live with her. “Why not?” she was confused.

“Can’t you see? This place is cursed. This is not a place for someone like you. No, you can’t live in this cursed place, Maria.”

“But I want to live with you,” her voice was sad. Again, she was back to being a kid.

“This place is unfit for someone like you,” Nene said, “I’m surprised that you even want to live here. This is a forgotten place in the country. Only few people know about the existence of this place. You can see that there is no government project anywhere. There is no electricity. No good roads. No pipe-borne water. We get our water from the river. Only few people who are rich enough dig wells in their compounds. This place is what you modern children call a GRA.” A brief smile crossed her lips, but her eyes registered sadness.

Maria frowned. “A GRA? Government Reserved Area?”

Nene shook her head and said, “Had you been living under a rock all these years? GRA – Government Rejected Area, of course.”

Maria smiled and said, “It does not matter. What I want is to live with you. There is nothing you can do about that. Besides, I have nowhere else to go. I am stuck here with you. You have to deal with it. I am going nowhere.” She started walking towards the building.

“It will even be better to live under a rock than to live here, Maria,” she spoke, trying to catch up with her. “And what did you mean by you have nowhere else to go?”

“It’s a long story.”

They both went into the building. There were rooms on either sides of the large passage. The design of the building was not much different from the orphanage Maria grew up in, and she said this to Nene, who in turn told her that this particular one was a lot older than the one in Lagos. She claimed that this was the oldest orphanage in the entire country, probably in the whole of West Africa.
Before taking Maria to her room, Matron Nene introduced Maria to the rest of the kids she was taking care of, the ones that were still alive, according to her. They turned out to be pretty sweet children. Matron Nene explained that they had not returned her greetings because they thought she had come to adopt one of them. They never wanted to be adopted; they never wanted to leave Matron Nene. The matron was the only mother they knew; they didn’t want anyone else taking care of them.

“I’m hungry, mama,” Maria said, “I have not eaten anything all day.”

Actually, Maria was dying to eat Matron Nene’s food. She was hungry, of course, but she was not that hungry. She just wanted to eat her mother’s food again after ten years. And Matron Nene, too, knew what Maria wanted, so she rushed to the kitchen to prepare a meal for her long-lost daughter. She had taken care of many children after Maria; some had died but more had survived, yet there was none of them as dear to her heart as Maria was. There was that deep connection she and Maria shared which she could not really find with any other child, no matter how close that child was to her. Sometimes she would go to bed and cry herself to sleep thinking about her Maria. Now that Maria was back, she was filled with a certain kind of energy. Maria’s return had brought back her strength.

She cooked the most sumptuous meal and all the kids were happy; they thought they were having a feast. Although Matron Nene always worked hard to ensure that none of the children ever knew hunger, they had never had such a feast as this before – and so the children welcomed the arrival of Maria, for it was because of her they were having such a delicious meal.

When Maria had finally eaten to her satisfaction, Matron Nene started questioning her. She could not wait to know what her daughter had been up to since the past decade. She wanted to catch up on a lot of things she had missed.

“So, tell me,” the matron said, “How was your life? Tell me everything about your life – about your experience.”

“My life turned upside down the day you left me at the orphanage.”

Matron Nene hung her face down. “I am genuinely sorry, my daughter. I had no choice. I could not bring any child with me to this place. I had no idea about where I was coming but I was told there was a disease killing children here in the orphanage. I could not risk bringing you here. You might have died if you had followed me. Did you see all those graves outside? They are the graves of all the children that have died all these years. Many had died before I came, and when I came a lot more even died. I had to work very hard to ensure that no more of them died. I made herbs and concoctions. I went to the city to buy drugs. I worked tirelessly. It was really bad. I’m glad you didn’t have to see all that was happening here. No one wanted to take care of the children. Every matron they had been bringing had been rejecting the jobs. Everyone had given up all hopes on the children. I could not be like everyone. They were innocent little children. I could not stand back and watch them die in multitude just because I wanted to be with you. Leaving you broke my heart more than you could ever imagine. I know you thought I betrayed you, but I really had no choice.”

“You said that you were going to come back to pick me. I waited every day for you to come for me.”

“I couldn’t come until I was sure that the sickness killing the children had gone. But when I finally came for you, it was too late. I had no idea that the matron that took charge after me was such a monster. I could not find you when I went to pick you at the orphanage. We realised that the foolish woman was forcing you girls into prostitution. It was so sad. I searched around for you but couldn’t find you. At first, I thought you had died, but I knew how strong you are so I dismissed that thought. I believed you were somewhere else surviving somehow. But no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t find you. But I made sure that the silly Madam Comfort paid for all her atrocities. She was put in jail. I had to take the rest of the kids in the orphanage with me when I was leaving. I’m sure the woman is still rotting in jail by now.”

“She’s dead,” Maria said.

Matron Nene’s eyes opened widely. “She’s dead? How did you know?”

The next words were heavy but she had to say it. “I met her in prison.”

“Oh my goodness!” Matron Nene brought her hands to her mouth in shock. “You went to jail.”

Maria smiled and said, “Going to jail was probably least of all the terrible things that happened to me, mama.”

“Oh, my daughter!”

“But it’s also the reason for the best thing that ever happened to me. If I hadn’t gone to jail, I wouldn’t have met Peter Black.”

LarrySun:
Good evening, everyone.

Update 18

“Who is Peter Black?”

Maria was surprised by the question. “You have not heard of him?”

Matron Nene stared at her dumbly. “Was I supposed to know him?”

“He’s a very popular person. I thought you might have heard news of him.”

The elderly woman shook her head and said, “Look around, my daughter. How am I supposed to know him? There is no electricity in this village. I only listen to the news with a battery-powered transistor radio that only carries a single station – that is even once in a while. Most times, what I receive are statics. I power it by buying batteries from the mallam at the end of the street. He’s the only one who sells batteries around here. Otherwise, I would not have known anything whatsoever happening in the outside world. Anyway, tell me about this Peter Black.”

Maria smiled. “You would have loved him. He’s such an incredible man. I wish you had met him. I’m sure he would have loved you too.”

“It seems like this Peter Black is a wonderful person.”

“Getting married to him was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You’re married? Oh my goodness! My daughter is now a married woman. I am so happy for you. I hope to meet your husband soon,” then her smile became a frown. “I don’t understand the logic. Didn’t you just tell me that you had nowhere else to go? Where is your husband? How did he feel about you coming here? Did something bad happen between you two? Did you have a fight with him? What’s going on, Maria? It seems like there’s something you are hiding. Talk to me, my daughter.”

“Peter is in prison.”

She gasped in shock again. “Prison? How? What did he do?”

“That’s why I was surprised that you have not heard of him. He’s serving life imprisonment in a prison in Lagos.”

“My goodness! What did he do to warrant such sentence?”

“He was a thief.”

Matron Nene frowned. “Your husband was a thief?”

Maria nodded sadly.

“You got married to a thief? I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I thought I raised you to be better than this, Maria. How could you stoop yourself so low to getting married to a criminal? How could you marry a thief for crying out loud?”

“It’s not like you think, mama. Peter is an incredible person.”

“There has never been anything incredible about being a thief, Maria. There’s nothing good about criminals. I never expected that you would give yourself up to a criminal,” tears streamed down her face. “It’s all my fault. Everything is my fault. I wish I hadn’t left you. If I hadn’t left you this would not have happened to you.”

“Mama, I also went to jail too, remember? I told you I went to jail. Did you even ask what led me to prison?”

“I’m scared of asking that question.”

“I was a thief too. I was all alone in the street. I had no one to take care of me. I had to survive somehow. Returning to that orphanage was no longer an option. I had to survive anyhow I could. I was once a thief, mama. If you could accept me, then you should give Peter a chance.”

Nene shook her head. “It’s different with you. At least you are now out of prison. You have been given a chance to turn your life around, to turn a new leaf. Your Peter does not have that chance. He has been condemned for life.”

“Do you even know that I escaped from jail?”

“Christ of Nazareth!” Matron Nene stared at Maria as if she had seen a ghost. “Are you telling me that you are a fugitive?”

“Everyone thinks I’m dead. That’s why I had to find you. I know you are going to protect me, mama. I don’t want to go back to jail. I can’t go back to jail, mama.”

“That Peter made you become a thief like him,” said Matron Nene sadly, “There’s nothing good about him. He deserves to be in jail. He’s a bad influence.”

Maria shook her head. “He didn’t make me a thief. I was already a thief before meeting him. I meet him after I escaped from prison. He protected me.”

“What do you mean by everyone thinks that you are dead?”

And so Maria narrated everything. From how he met Peter Black to how they both got married, and then how she was shot and pronounced dead by the doctor, then to her decision to find her here. She carefully left out the part where she gave birth to a male child and gave the child out to someone else. She wasn’t sure about how Matron Nene was going to take the news. She was scared that her mother might hate her for giving up her own son. Besides, she’d already heard too much of information she didn’t approve of. By the time she finished her story, Matron Nene’s handkerchief was damp with tears.

“Whoever the doctor is, may he always find favour wherever he goes. He saved my daughter’s life. I am forever indebted to him.”

“He’s one of the few kind men we have in this country. He put his own career and freedom on the line to save me. He treated me like I was his own daughter. I will be forever grateful to him.”

“It’s surprising that it’s the same policeman that put you in jail that also put your husband in prison. It seems like fate is weaving something. Anyway, it’s sad that you may never see your husband again.”

Maria smiled and said, “Do not be too sure about that. If it’s the same Peter Black that I got married to, he will come out of that prison.”

“I don’t know what to feel about that,” replied Matron Nene, “Don’t think I’m going to harbour a fugitive.”

“But you’re harbouring one now.”

“It’s different. You’re my daughter.”

“And he’s my husband.”

“You seem to love this Peter Black so much.”

“He’s my everything.”

“Well, we shall cross the bridge when we get to it. For now, let me rejoice on the fact that my daughter is back with me.”

“We are going to take good care of the children together, mama,” Maria said brightly, then she frowned. “There are so many of them, even after many had died. How do you manage to feed them without government’s donations?”

“The same way I managed to feed the ones in Lagos. All the kids are hardworking. We all farm. Some mature ones among them sometimes go to the river to fish and sell in the market.”

“You allow them to leave the orphanage?”

“Only the ones that can take good care of themselves.”

“How about adoption? How often do they get adopted?”

“I don’t give them up for adoption.”

“That’s strange,” Maria commented, frowning, “Isn’t that the objective of the orphanage. You cannot continue to take care of them all alone. You need to give some of them up for adoption.”

Matron Nene leaned forward and said, “This world is a very wicked one, Maria. It’s a very wicked world indeed. I used to allow people to adopt them but stopped when I realised that many of those who came to adopt these children were not kind people. There had been some cruel people who pretended to be couples looking for kids but were actually ritualists. They would take the kids and kill them for money ritual.”

“My goodness!” Maria whispered. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Are people really that cruel?”

“You have no idea. The heart of man is filled with wickedness, my daughter. They take these children and murder them. Some did other terrible things to them, like selling them into prostitution, or even raping them. It’s very sad. Every day, I blame myself for the ones I allowed to be adopted. I’m never going to allow that again. I worked so hard to save these children; the evil people wanted to render all my effort void. I won’t allow that. I will continue to take care of them until they are old enough to take care of themselves, then they can go into the world to make good lives for themselves.”

“But more may still come, mama.”

“Then I will accept them with open heart. God has been providing what we eat. I trust that the God I serve will never forsake me or the children. Do you know that some of these children were condemned?”

“I don’t understand.”

“A lot of them were accused of witchcraft and were sent to the evil forest to die – they were condemned by their own parents and family members. Only kind people bring them here for me to take care of. Thankfully, this community is an isolated place, so none of the fanatics could locate this place. Once, a kid of about six years old had trekked to my compound. He had also been condemned to die alone in an evil forest, but the little angle had found his own path to my doorstep. Now that child is fifteen years old. He’s one of the most hardworking kids in this place.”

“How about their education?”

Matron Nene cast her face down and said, “Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about that. There is no school in this village, and there is no one learned I can employ to help me teach them. I only manage to teach them the little I know, but my own educational background is limited. I only reached Form 4 before my education stopped. I have taught them everything I know.”

“So what do you plan for these kids if they are not educated?”

The matron shrugged and replied, “Well, there’s nothing for them to become other than farmers or fishermen. Those are skills that require no extensive trainings. Some of them have become established farmers that sell goods in town. They are doing nicely for themselves as far as I know. Some of them are even married and raising families.”

Maria shook her head sadly. “That is not enough, mama. That should not be their fate.”

“But there was nothing I could do. You can see that my legs are already failing me. I can’t move around far anymore. I cannot help them more than I am already doing. It’s a great privilege that they are even alive in the first place.”

“I appreciate what you have been doing for these kids, mama. You have always been an angel sent from above, and I know that it is only God that can reward you for everything you have been doing. But these kids deserve a lot more. The fact that they are here in this village should not stop them from reaching greater heights. Maybe that is why I had to come here. You have done a lot already. It is my turn to take charge from where you stopped.”

The elderly woman looked at Maria with eyes full of hopes. “So what are you planning to do?”

“These kids must be educated. I will make sure that they are not derived of proper education. That is their right.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“I will start by teaching them. At least I still know a little more than you do.” She smiled and continued, “Then I will do what you did for us in Lagos. I will home-school them by bringing in teachers.”

Matron Nene frowned. “That’s impossible. Where will you find teachers in this forgotten village?”

“Nothing is impossible, mama,” replied Maria, “If I would have to bring the teachers from the town, I will do that for these kids.”

“But you can’t show your face in public.”

Maria smiled and replied, “Don’t worry, mama. I am smart.”

Update 19

***

Within ten years of living with Matron Nene and running the orphanage alongside her, Maria did what she said she was going to do – and more. No matter how subtle she tried to be, her greatness manifested itself in that little village.

The first thing she did within a week of living in that orphanage was to use some of the money she had left on her to buy a bicycle with which she transported herself around the village. Then she used majority of the rest of the money to travel back to town to buy stationery. There were more than a dozen children in the orphanage and so she bought exercise books, textbooks, pens and pencils, erasers, crayons, sharpeners, mathematical sets, portable blackboards, chalks, and other learning and teaching materials. The children were highly excited when she brought home all these materials. She had taken Edet along, he was the hardworking boy Matron Nene had said had come to the orphanage after being left to die alone in an evil forest. And Matron Nene had been right; Edet was indeed hardworking, and he spoke Pidgin English in an accent that made Maria laugh most times. She immediately liked him on the first day, for the boy was not only strong, he was also quite diligent. He carried most of the educational materials when they were returning from the town. He had been excited to go with Maria, for he had never left the little village since the day he walked to Matron Nene’s door.

“I wan be like that man,” Edet had pointed to a man dressed in suit in the town.

Maria had smiled at him, patted his head and said, “You will be more than him if you are really determined. You can be whoever you want to be, Edet.”

“I wan learn book. I wan speak oyinbo Engrish.”

Maria laughed and said, “You will. Now let’s go home. We have a lot of work to do.”

Maria realised that, although Matron Nene had tried to teach the kids a few things about education, only very little reflected in the children. They all spoke Pidgin English in the home; even the matron spoke Pidgin with them. And so that was the first thing Maria was determined to change about the kids. They must speak proper English. Even if they didn’t know how to, they must try – and he was ready to teach them that one, at least.

It was pretty hard trying to change a language that was already the kids’ tongue but Maria would not relent. He would reward the ones that spoke good English, and the reward would encourage the others to polish their words. Before Maria’s arrival, the kids only wrote on wooden boards with charcoals they got from burnt firewood. None of them had the luxury of owning an exercise book, let alone textbook. And all Matron Nene could really teach them was the English alphabet, stringing words together, and basic mathematics. But Maria taught them a whole lot more. She taught them reading, grammar, essay writing, letter writing – then she taught them fractions, decimals, equations, and other stuff she knew about English and Mathematics. She also taught them some other subjects she considered quite important.

However, at a point, she was scared that she would have nothing more to teach them. The textbooks helped immensely but she was reaching some topics that were even beyond her own comprehension. Besides, some of the kids were already studying the textbooks on their own. Edet turned out to be a really fast learner. He was the first orphan in the home able to speak proper English, although his local accent still reflected in his speech, and they still made Maria laugh – but he was a very brilliant child. Maria decided to make him her assistant. While she taught some students, Edet would teach other students. In a few months, things were beginning to change in the orphanage; many of the kids could now read and write perfectly. The villagers were aware of the change in them whenever some of them went to sell goods in the market. The kids were no longer speaking Pidgin English like the other children in the village. Other kids who were not orphans began telling their parents that they wanted to be able to speak proper English like the children from the orphanage. At first, the parents dismissed their children pleas as nonsense. They never believed in education. They believed there was no point educating children in this village when they would eventually end up to become farmers and fishermen like their parents. Besides, even if they wanted their children to learn, there was no single school in the entire village – so there was no point promising their kids what they might never receive. Many of the parents agreed that the kids in the orphanage were only wasting their time on something they considered irrelevant.

But something happened that changed the impression of the parents about education. Before the end of that year, there was an annual festival always held in the village. It was the only day in the whole year that some outsiders would come into the village. The festival was always highly anticipated by the villagers and it was always organized by the village king, who was also an illiterate. On this day, the villagers would wear their best clothes and gather at the king’s palace for the usual merriment. There were always songs and dances, eating and drinking, and meeting new folks. Food was always eaten in excess. Fishermen, hunters and farmers always contributed and donated in big to the event. It was the only event they were all proud of. Even the very old always insisted on being taken to witness the event.

However, Matron Nene never allowed any of the children at the orphanage to attend the ceremony. She believed such festival was unfit for those kids; besides, they were never supposed to leave the orphanage. She didn’t want to risk any government official finding them at the ceremony and accusing her of not doing her job well as the matron. The kids always wanted to attend this festival but they could not go against the orders of the matron. The only thing they did was listen to the sounds of singing, shouting and cheering that echoed to the orphanage.

This year, however, even Maria was interested in attending the festival. She needed something fun in her life after all the terrible things she had experienced in the past. And as soon as the kids realised that Maria was planning to attend, they begged her to help them convince Matron Nene to allow them go with her. Maria could see the desperation in their eyes. She understood why the matron forbade them from going, but she also understood that it would mean a lot for the kids to attend the festival. Besides, witnessing the activities could be a form of education. She remembered how kids from other school always talked about the various excursions they attended in school, and Maria had always wondered how it felt to go on excursions. Matron Nene never allowed them to go anywhere; she never let them leave the orphanage. The only time they left was when they went for an external examination. Even then, Maria remembered that one of them had run away – the girl never followed them back to the orphanage. She was sure something like that was not going to happen here. This was a small village; there was nowhere any of the children could run to. It was even something inconceivable; none of the kids would dream of leaving the orphanage. They never wanted to leave Matron Nene, for she was the only mother they ever knew – and the old woman had always worked hard to take good care of them.

“I’d like to attend the Ikpom Festival,” Maria had told Matron Nene two days before the date of the festival.

The matron had frowned. “Why would you want to attend something like that?”

Maria shrugged. “I think it would be fun. I think it’s something I need. I want to sing and dance,” she laughed.

“You can sing and dance here,” Nene had responded flatly.

Maria scoffed. “How? There has never been any music here. Your old transistor radio hardly picks any station. Even if it does, all we hear is news, news and news. They can’t seem to stop talking about the fate of Ken Saro Wiwa.”

“You should feel a little sympathy. The poor man will be hanged in November.”

“I do,” replied Maria, “I really do, but there are a lot more freedom fighters awaiting death like him. Why are they not talking about all those ones? Why is KSW different from the rest of those people? They are all humans too. Should they not have a voice too? Anyway, all I’m saying is that a person deserves a little fun in their life. I just want to go there to have some fun. It’s just a day. I will be back before dark.”

“I don’t understand what people enjoy in all that noise, but if that is what you want, then you can go. I appreciate that you have chosen to take permission from me, but you are an adult, Maria, you can do whatever you want as long as it’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re my mother. From who else would I seek permission if not you?”

Matron Nene smiled. “Thank you, my daughter.”

“I would never trade you for anyone else. I love you so much, mama.”

“I love you too, my daughter. You know I love you so much and I would never refuse you anything.”

“Aha! There’s another request.”

Matron Nene’s expression became serious. “I hope there’s nothing wrong.”

“I’d like to take the kids with me,” Maria said cheerfully.

“Absolutely not. You know that’s not going to happen, Maria.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not right. My job is to keep them here in the orphanage, not to go and attend some festival. I’m not going to put them in danger by allowing them mix with people I don’t know about. Besides, they could easily get lost or kidnapped there. No, the risk is too enormous. I’m sorry, I’m not going to grant this particular request.”

“Nothing bad is going to happen to them, I promise.”

Nene shook her head. “I can’t risk it. The kids mean a lot to me.”

“Don’t you believe in me?” said Maria, “I’m assuring you that nothing bad is going to happen to any of them. They really want to attend this festival. Let’s do this for them, mama. In the very least, these kids deserve a little fun in their lives. They have worked hard to earn it. Have you forgotten all the rigorous classes and assignments they have been doing. They have improved considerably within a few months. I know you are also proud of them. You should show them that you appreciate them by giving them this chance. Once again, I am promising you that I will bring them all back safely.”

Matron Nene stared at Maria silently for a while. Although she did not like the idea of the kids attending the festival, she agreed that Maria had a point. The least she could do was allow them to attend. Her fear was something terrible happening. Besides, it wasn’t like they were always stuck in the orphanage. Some of them always sold things in the market. If they didn’t run away or get kidnapped then, they probably would be safe at the festival too. And Maria had promised to watch over them. Well, she wanted the kids to be happy.

“Okay, you can take them; but you must be very careful.”

“Thank you so much, mama,” Maria was excited.

When she shared the news to the kids, all the children went to Matron Nene and hugged her in gratitude.

Asiseeit:
Hi Oga Larrysun, how's the family and life. I need to reconnect with you on whatsapp as my previous phone went bad and the number on your profile isn't on whatsapp. Can you please send me the whatsapp number? Thanks