I said get rid of him!

Abusive words everyday on mommy's face by Judy. Mommy's situation gets tough each day.

Judy counts days and weeks. She becomes very impatient.

'Get rid of this pregnancy or go and stay with your mother in the farms.' At the farms, there is no medical assistance.

Very dangerous wild animals roam as they please; lions, leopards and big deadly snakes.

Neighbours are hundreds of metres apart. No matter how loud you shout, it takes more than thirty minutes for any neighbour to arrive.

Your mother stays in a filthy mud house where dust just spills over through the cracks.

The door of the house doesn't close even at night. Go and sleep in that house only to discover in the morning that you slept with poisonous snakes and scorpions.'

If that pregnancy goes on, you are going to give birth during the months of September and October. That will be the rainy reason. Thunderstorms and lightening striking all night long; 'there is high possibility of striking and lighting up under a blaze of fire that thatch roof.

That old woman will have to watch you give birth inside that filthy mud house and you'll be facing death by that time.'

A pin of raw adrenaline shoots through mommy's veins as Judy goes on and on coercing her into accepting her side of the story. Mommy is in her third month of pregnancy but Judy does not give up. Mommy lives with these painful suppression.

Her snobbish aunt, advises her to get rid of the pregnancy. The reason is only known to the snobbish aunt, Judy. Mommy is in the first three months of her pregnancy. She proposes all kinds of methods, and brings along all kinds of traditional abortion tools for mommy to get rid of the pregnancy.

Judy has accommodated Mommy in her five roomed modern house. This is where Judy accommodates all her relatives since she has all the cash an average person would wish to possess. She now uses her wealth to influence all those around her.

'Get rid of this pregnancy before this unborn child reaches this earth.' Judy threatens to chase her from her home. Judy is totally against the fact that the child has to be born.

The year is 1978. Mommy is only 23 years of age.

She has nowhere to stay if she is chased out of Judy's home. The father responsible for the pregnancy is still young and staying with parents as well. Mommy is not married to the father. According to mommy's customs, she is not allowed to stay with the father's family.

They can stay together if they are married.

There is no other relative mommy can stay with. Most of the relatives live with large families in single thatched mud houses. There is no extra space, not at all.

However, the father is happily in love with mommy. They love each other like nobody's business. One major obstacle is that, they have no place to stay. Mommy has just finished her junior school. She is waiting to proceed to high school.

'What shall be done?' They discuss all kinds of solutions to save their child. This is the question mommy and the father keep on asking themselves through letters they write to each other in an exchange of love. She cannot help it. She opens the letter right away at the post office expecting a positive response from the father. They are both young and unemployed.

The father lives with his parents in a town far away from mommy's village.

With his unskilled labour, he goes door to door looking for employment. This is to help solve mommy's threatening situation. He wants to help mommy find her own home to live peacefully.

'Sorry, you don't qualify,'

He faces disappointments no matter how persuasive he tries his luck in job searching.

Mommy at the village tries all kinds of formal and odd jobs to no advantage.

The country is not developed to offer more job opportunities. This is worse in the village.

There is only one missionary primary school, junior high school, missionary hospital, a tribal authority and two stores operating.

No vacancy! This is the response mommy gets whenever she tries her luck. On a Saturday late afternoon at 5:45 pm, she calls mommy.

'Get rid of the pregnancy right now or pack and go.' She forces her to make a choice as she gives mommy a shiny paper foil. The situation is now becoming hard for mommy as she has to make the choice, right away.

Mommy grabs the foil, opens it and finds four dark-red shells. 'What are these for?' asks mommy. She listens to Judy emphasising her point, 'those are the black market abortion drugs; take one right now and another one in the morning.'

'I'm waiting, take one abortion drug, hurry take it, now.'

Mommy is speechless!