Shattered but mended @ebonyheritage

Shattered But Mended

 

Picture courtesy of pinterest.com

SibeOluwaDara never knew that life could ever smile on her. She had a grime perspective of life; having been born into trouble and followed by trouble everywhere she goes. She had been faced with every kind of misfortune that can ever befall any human.

Sibe was born into a family of five. Her parent and two brothers completing the ensemble. Her father, a government railway worker, earned very little. The little was barely enough to clothe, feed and sustain the family. He was always joking  that ‘his take home pay could not take him home’.

Her mother was a petty trader. Her petty trading profit was used to help the meagre family finance. To say the family is living in penury is an understatement.

When Sibe was Ten, she was  molested by a family friend. Five years down the road, she was raped on four different occasions. Men took advantage of her naivety to rape her. They dangled the carrot of financial help and she always trustingly swallow it to her detriment.

Sibe couldn’t tell anyone what she was going through, not even her mother. She kept no secret from her mum but this aspect was a no go area for her. But she was so ashamed that she has let her family down, especially her mum.

By the time she was twenty-one, Sibe had committed series of abortions. All these happened because she was gullible. Gullible enough to believe men who promised her heaven and earth. Men that were only interested in sleeping with her and abandoning her at the slightest opportunity.

Things became so terrible for her, so terrible that she moved away from her home. She left for the North, where she knew no one. Since she couldn’t further her education, she started doing odd jobs just to keep body and soul together. One thing was certain though, Sibe had learned bitter lessons. She never allowed men toy with her emotions again. After all that she’s been through in the hands of men, she just knew she’s had enough.

But deep inside, she was an empty shell. She knew something was missing. She wanted to be fulfilled, but didn’t know how to go about it. She was a ghost, a walking zombie, who just routinely went about her daily living with sheer force.

She was born into christianity and until she left home, she attended church services regularly. She withdrew from church when she moved away to stay by herself, not because she lost her faith, but because she felt unworthy to be called a child of God. Sibe believed that after all she had done, she saw no reason why God would even look at her, much less listen to her. She just moved from day-to-day, with no aim or focus. All she did was live through each day.

One day, as she was trying to get to her day job, she met a young man who asked her for direction. The young man was struck by her beauty. After she had given him the direction to his destination, he asked if they could talk on phone later on, as he would like to know her better. Not believing anything good could come out of it, she gave her number with a nonchalant shrug but that was the beginning of a friendship that led her back to her root, which is Christ.

At first she was skeptical, believing she was beyond redemption but after much counseling and conviction from her new-found friend, she reluctantly agreed to go to church. And was she glad she did as it was as if the sermon for that day was meant for her. It was as if the pastor could see through her facade. Sibe didn’t know when she burst into uncontrollable tears.
She found her way back home, back into God’s presence and back into the sheep fold.
Like Magic, everything started falling into place in her life. The young man proposed to her and she accepted with so much joy. Then she went back home, where she was received with gladness by her aging parents and two brothers.

Within six years, Sibe achieved what she couldn’t do since she was born. Her brothers went back to school with the help of her fiancé, he opened a gigantic business centre for her in the heart of the city. With that she can help those that were in need of help. She also founded a Non-Governmental Organization that helped people deal with the issues of multiple trauma of life.

Looking back, she was thankful for all that she had become. Although her parents christened her Omolola. She re-christened herself SibeOluwadara, for all God has done in her life and that of her family. When she woke up in the morning, her morning worship song went; “Sibe Oluwa Dara, bo ti le wu ko ri o, wahala aye le po lapoju, sibe oluwa dara” .

Meaning God is ever good no matter what or no matter the tribulations… He knows how to turn your bad situation around.

Jules write
@ebonyheritage