THE FEMALE MECHANIC

Young Gabriella

Mr. Alex brought his wife and daughter home after discharging them from the hospital. His mother and younger sister Amenze were around to help his wife out with some chores and also to take care of her and her daughter. According to the Bini tradition, a child is given a name seven days after the Birth of the child and so they had to prepare towards that. Mr Alex's mother regularly prepared pounded yam and pepper soup which was the founded women who just put to bed eat in the Bini land. She helped her daughter in law out with some other traditional treatments like sitting on a bucket of hot water, tying of the stomach and so on. She assisted Mrs Alex in taking care of the little baby especially when she cries at night.

It was already seven days and according to the Bini custom and tradition, it is a day to name a child. Mr and Mrs Alex had earlier discussed on naming the child Gabriella irrespective of the fact that she lost her twin which was one major reason they chose the name earlier.

"siwo siwo, siwo" said the spokeman as he got up to address the crowd."We are all gathered here because of our little daughter and according to our customs and traditions, it is a day her parents will tell us the name she is going to bear today henceforth. A lady walked out with a big bowl and placed it in the middle of everyone. Mr Alex stepped out and dropped a one thousand naira note which was highly respected as the country's highest currency. "I name her Gabriella" Mr Alex said.

"Gabriella gue erha dia, Gabriella gue iyue dia" the people sang and danced according to the tradition. Mrs Alex came out and dropped same as her husband and said "I name her Osemwonyemwen" (meaning I am satisfied with it)

"Osemwonyemwen gue erha dia, Osemwonyemwen gue iyue dia" the people sang and danced again. Other friends and family came out and dropped money as they gave the beautiful girl various names but according to the custom and tradition, the baby bears the name given to her by her parents. Music kept playing, people kept dancing, foods were served and the couple laughed and danced in excitement.

Gabriella grew up into a beautiful and intelligent young girl. She had a very elastic brain and was very smart. She loved calculations a lot and was always top in mathematics in her primary school. She also had the 'tomboy' attitude and so she had stamina and strength. She was very disciplined and respectful not minding the fact that she was the only child as no issue came up after her birth and her parents didn't just bother as they were ok having Gabriella.

At primary five, Gabriella wrote the primary six certificate examination and made a 'merit' and was promoted to secondary School. Mr Alex has always wanted her to study Business Administration because he wanted her to come join him in his Multi-million naira business after which she will take over. Mrs. Alex wasn't left out of her husband's idea and they kept telling young Gabriella about it even when she was in primary and junior secondary School.

Gabriella was very smart and intelligent that most teachers in her school told her that she was going to excel in the science class. She had always concur as she aspired to be a mechanical engineer, she loved dealing with cars and their parts and so decided that after she passes her JSS 3 exam, she was going to tell her parents about it.

The exam came and as usual Gabriella studied hard for them, she read well and wrote the exam. When the results came out, she made it and her parents were so happy about it.

Mr and Mrs Alex have gone through several pressures from parents to try taking traditional medicines so they can have another child especially a boy, but Mr Alex always say that Gabriella was worth more than a thousand boys. The couple were very ok with just having her and never had plans on having another. Mr Alex always had it in mind to make his daughter very rich and a Multi-millionnaire as he is.