UNTILL WHEN

UNTILL WHEN CHAPTER 1

"Push!Push!" an old woman's voice was heard from the small manyatta.

"I can't." Nadeenya screamed.

"My daughter, you have to otherwise you'll kill it." Another said rubbing her face with a cold rug that had been socked in cold water. Nadeenya was having the worst time of her delivery which at the end would bring her the happiness she had always dreamed of. She was afraid of loosing her only baby. Finally, she shouted loudly,

"Puuuush!" she made the last push this time a hard one and,"weeeh!weeeh! the baby cried out . She held her little baby girl in her arms tears rolling down her cheeks as the women outside made four great ululations to welcome the baby girl. She was then named Nasieku and the elders and elderly chanted blessings upon her.

Nasieku was well taken care of by her mother and father, Ole Tobiko who worked hard to make sure his family lacked nothing. Nadeenya's mother who was now Nasieku's grandma, visited them often and brought them encholati. This was oil made from cream gotten from boiled cow's milk. Nadeenya would then apply it on her daughter's body and also drink it herself. They both grew strong and beautiful.

A few years later, Nasieku had grown and was seven years old. She played with other girls and also helped her mother with some house chores like sweeping. On one weekend, they attended a wedding in the nearby village and left Nasieku in her grandmother's place. It had rained that night and the river was flowing fast that morning. As they tried to cross, Nadeenya stepped on a weak stone, she held her husband's hand for support but they both slipped into the river and fell off the fountain.

Back in the village, they soon realized that Ole Tobiko and his wife were missing. The morans were assigned to search for them everywhere and two days later, they brought their bodies and said they had found them lying beside the river. Nasieku cried a lot but her parents were never going to come back and after the funeral, she moved to her grandmother's house. Her grandma was loving and caring. She tried all she could to make Nasieku happy and she somehow managed. They would fetch firewood and water together and at night, she narrated great stories as they sat beside the fireplace with other children her age.

Soon enough, Nasieku turned twelve and she had to be circumcised to initiate her to adulthood. She knew this was the custom of her culture and she could nothing about it. She was scared, but there was no otherwise.

"Nasieku, this is a very important stage in a girl's life. If a girl is not circumcised, no man would want to marry her."Her grandma warned her.

"But koko, I still can survive without a husband," she asked naively.

"Listen my grandchild, you don't want to end up childless do you?"

"Noo,kiko, but it's painful."

"Just for sometime then you will be fine. The expert will take care of you."

The point of remaining childless remained a short to Nasieku and the following morning she was in a small manyatta with other many girls her age. It was the most painful experience in her life. She closed her eyes and tightened her fists as the old old woman operating on her held the sharp razor blade tightly and in a second Nasieku was half dead. The pain then came slowly as the woman poured kerosene on her. She was bleeding profusely and the woman poured more kerosene until it was no more. The bleeding made Nasieku faint and everyone including the old woman was tensed. Thirty minutes later, the bleeding stopped but Nasieku was not yet up. A goat was then slaughtered for all the girls. When Nasieku woke up,she found a cup of blood, soup and meat in front of her. She had been lying on a cow's skin in a different manyatta. She took everything hoping to get better immediately.

Days later, Nasieku was fine. She was able to walk well and even do house chores. She was now an original woman. She was taught more chores like, cooking, milking the cows and making manyattas. That was her life and would be forever. Time went so fast and at fifteen, she was taught to take care of her husband and children and she was ready to be a wife already. Suddenly and unexpectedly, her grandma became so ill she could barely walk. Though many suitors came to ask for her hand in marriage, she declined all since she had to take care of her grandma. Her grandma then told her to just accept her so that they could at least pay for her medication.

"Nasieku plaese, I beg of you."she pleaded with her.

"Okay, koko, I will for your sake."she assured her.

Nasieku then made some porridge and fed her from an old guard. Her grandma was the only person she had and never wanted to even think of losing her as well. Though getting married meant living her home, it was the only way to save her grandmother's life.

A week later, the suitor her grandma had selected for her came home with the elders. He was at his sixties but Nasieku had no other option. They agreed on the dowry payment and a few days later, he brought with him, ten cow's, two new blankets,a fifty kilogram bag of sugar and medication for Nasieku's grandma. She then packed her few belongings and promised to visit her grandmother oftenly.

"Nasieku, take care of your husband and yourself just as I taught you."

"Yes koko I will, take care of yourself too." her grandma then kissed her on her forehead then took a guard full of milk on Nasieku's head. She then tied the guard on her back and they left with her husband, Ole Kule. She cried from within and tried hard to be strong. She was only fifteen but already a wife, married to a man the same age as his long gone grandfather. She had to obey him and take good care of him. Ole Kule was a rich man. He owned large herds of cattle, goats and sheep. He had seven wives and each gave him six to eight children. More than ten manyattas were in his homestead and his big one was at the far end. Nasieku was now his eighth wife and that was his pride;wives, children and livestock. This was what any maasai man wished to have. They were welcomed with ululations and celebrations as they got in the homestead which you could mistake for a village. Nasieku then began her second stage in life as she counted every step to the manyatta she was taken to.