Chapter 11-Ebun Clark

The first time Tolani heard of Ebun Clark was in her primary six when Ebun Clark’s NGO, The ‘Liberating Women Academy’ intervened in the issue of the marriage of her eleven year old friend Banke Bello by her father to a widower, Mr Fashola, a man old enough to be her father, who had four kids of his own, two of whom were older than Banke. The second time Tolani heard of her was when she was in JSS 2 in the secondary School. Her fine Arts teacher had come in one day to announce that the Liberating Women Academy was recruiting female volunteers from the secondary school to work with them for about two hours a day after school. According to the teacher, asides getting daily lunch and some other incentives, the volunteers would get a chance to have their education sponsored by the commission up to a higher institution level. All the girls in the school registered their names and collected the registration forms to take home and fill but of course the ability to partake in the volunteer work would depend on the consent of their parents. That proved to be the hardest part.

When Tolani got home and excitedly told her mother about the volunteer work, her mother vehemently refused. No amount of convincing her worked. Tolani cried and begged, listing out the opportunities available to her including a possibility of sponsorship of her studies up till a higher institution level but the more she spoke the more hardened her mother was.

Her father met her crying outside on his return from work. She explained to him the offer she got and how her mother had refused to let her join. Her father said he’d talk to her mother and went inside. Tolani expected him to broach the topic immediately but he didn’t. Much later in the evening, Tolani and Kanyinsola tiptoed to their parent’s room door to overhear the conversation they knew would take place. Although Kanyinsola was not affected by the volunteer offer since she was still in primary six, she was Tolani’s confidant and they always tried to solve all problems together.

“I can’t let my daughter work with an outcast! What would society think of her? I heard she feeds these girls with ridiculous ideas that end up making them as rebellious as herself.” They heard their mother say.

“She was only declared an outcast because she divorced her husband. The husband’s brother testified to how her husband had been torturing her at the divorce hearing, we all heard about it then.”

“And so what if she was beaten? Is she the first woman to be beaten in her husband’s house? Would she have walked out on her marriage and disgraced her family if her parents had been alive? Would she not have endured the beating and tried to make things work?” They heard their mother say.

“Dolapo, I’m surprised that as a woman, you reason like this. Would you have stayed if I was beating you?” There was silence as her mother didn’t answer.

“Anyway,” her father continued, “There is a possibility Ebun will sponsor Tolani’s education up to the higher institution if she does her work well. I think that is a good offer.”

“What does she need to attend a higher institution for? Does she want to be more educated than her husband in future? What would the future hold for her if we are unable to get her a good husband because she is considered too educated? Already she is asking too many questions just because she is getting too much exposure by going to the same school as boys”

“What are you saying now Dolapo? I have always told you I want my daughters to get as much education as my sons. This is no longer the fifties or sixties, this is the eighties. Girls are getting more education and achieving a lot more these days and it won’t stop them from being good wives. Please drop all these old-fashioned ideas.”

At that point Tolani and Kanyinsola went back to their bedroom.

“What do you understand by ‘Outcast’?” Kanyinsola asked.

“I have no idea. Maybe I’ll ask my teacher.” Tolani said.

She went to bed very sad as it didn’t look like her mother was ready to consent to her working with Ms. Ebun Clark. The next day her father confirmed her fears when he shook his head at the breakfast table to make her understand he was unable to convince her mother. As he set out for work he told Tolani that he would still talk to her mother when he returned so she should not give up yet. Tolani got to school to discover that of the one hundred and fifty-six girls in the school who had taken the forms home, only three had returned with the filled forms indicating that so far, only three parents had consented to the volunteer job. The remaining students had two more days to submit the forms. Later that evening by dinner time, her mother told her that she had agreed to let her join Ebun Clark’s NGO. Tolani was so happy that she shouted at the dinner table. Her father smiled as he watched her jumping up for joy. Apparently her mother had communicated her decision to her father earlier but he had wanted her mother to tell Tolani about it herself.

By the second day Tolani happily submitted her form to the teacher. She was the only one that submitted on that day. By the third day another student submitted and that was all. They were five volunteers altogether. By the next Monday they started working at Ebun Clark’s NGO. Tolani was happy if for nothing else but it spared her a few hours of dreary house chores daily. She was however sorry for Kanyisola and Oyindamola because it meant they would have more work to do.