Being a fear-tackler is the first step to become a strong woman

CHAPTER 2

Abele remained consistent in her studies. She was an A student. Her grandfather was supportive and she took advantage of her laptop and smart-phone by starting her own clothing business. She was a multi-tasker and she always made sure she balanced her academics and her business. Although there were challenges, she overcame them. She started making friends as she noticed that she was lonely and felt isolated. It was difficult for her to befriend girls in her village as most of them were judgemental and rude. She was too nervous to approach girls in her village, so she made the decision to search for a friend online. Fortunately, she met a friend online called Emma. They both shared the same characteristic, which has been determined and excelling academically. This made their friendship stronger as they would spend most time doing school work and helping each other. Even though they had a lot of things in common, Emma loved going out and exploring the world. She would ask Abele to go out with her, but Abele didn’t like going out.

“Abele come on. Please go out with me. I promise you will enjoy it. Remember you only live once and tomorrow is not promised. We are young. Let’s go, my friend” says Emma, trying to convince Abele.

You are brilliant, huh? Hahaha. Okay, we can go out, but you must pledge to be back before 10 o'clock, says a beaming Abele.

Abele got ready and told her grandfather that she was going out with her friend. Her grandfather allowed her to go as he knew that Abele was responsible and would never disappoint him.

“Oh my children. Both of you look good today. Take care of yourselves and enjoy yourself” says Abele’s grandfather as he waves at them as they leave. Abele and Emma got along so much that they would spend the whole day together.

Abele was now maturing. She became more extroverted and articulated her feelings clearly. She got exposed to social life and ended up losing focus on school. She started going out more often, misled and trying to impress her internet friends. Her grandfather started to notice Abele’s weird behaviour and he was not pleased at all. He tried to talk to her but it seemed like Abele’s priority was to impress people. Her performance in academia was starting to be poor. She was always late for classes and would skip classes just to be on her phone.Her performance left the teachers unsatisfied, and they ended up inviting her guardian to a meeting.

“Good morning sir. I was sent by a teacher from Danville Secondary school regarding Abele. Take this letter” says a man from the SBST (an ongoing and problem solving unit of school personnel).

Abele’s grandfather took the envelope with a trembling chin and folded it as if he knew the reason why they had sent it. He sent down and called Abele to talk to her.

“My child, what went wrong? I am not happy with your behaviour these days. Am I a problem with my child? Tell me what the problem is?” Abele’s grandfather was speechless and hurt. He had a lump in his throat and was blinking away the tears. Abele didn’t show any sympathy when talking to his grandfather. “Kafra nana barima”

(I am sorry in Ghanaian language)She didn't care about it. Her grandfather's feelings, and Abele had no pity. Even the way she was apologising showed that she didn't mean it. She went straight to her bedroom, leaving her grandfather alone in the lounge room while he was still talking to her. You could tell the man was sad because of Abele’s behaviour.

Abele would spend hours and hours on her phone entertaining her online friends,eating junk food and not helping her grandfather with house-chores. Her friendship with Emma was starting to have tension as Abele got aggressive and didn’t want advice from Emma. She would leave the house untidy and smelling bad when she went out. Abele was introduced to drugs and ended up dating different guys. People in the village were aware of her weird behaviour and they would gossip about her. She would leave her grandfather, who is less flexible and sick, and go out with her boyfriend. Abele’s behaviour got worse and she would steal her grandfather’s money to buy drugs and give the remaining money to her boyfriend. What a disgrace.

“Who would have thought Abele would become a drug addict? God please show her the right way. She was never like that. I raised her to be a better woman and be independent. What changed her:” Abele’s grandfather would sit alone in sadness and pain. That didn’t mean anything to Abele. When she saw that she didn't have money to maintain her lifestyle, she ended up sleeping with different men for money. Abele’s grandfather was providing, supporting and loving Abele, but she was selfish enough to see that. She ended up moving out of the house, leaving her grandfather alone. She was cohabiting with her boyfriend and ended up dropping out of school. Most girls would complain about her taking out loans from them and not paying her debts. People were now aware of her scams and strange behaviour. Her reputation was bad as she treated people disrespectfully and always said negative statements about men that she slept with. She dated Peter for 2 years and they broke up because Peter was getting irritated by her behaviour and morals.

After her breakup with Peter, things got worse for her. She was a woman who depended on men for money and made poor financial decisions with the money.

She had no source of income, slept with different men, partied every weekend, had no investment and was surrounded by individuals who disapproved of her better circumstances. She then met a man online called Frank. He was staying in Canada with his family. He was staying with his mother and four siblings. He was into business and always travelling. Frank was looking for a woman to build a family with as he was getting older and felt pressure from his peers as they had families and kids. He was attracted to Abele as he saw some of her pictures and he was ready to start building a family. Little did he know that Abele was a trouble-maker and she was disrespectful. Frank was so interested in her and they started to communicate through the phone more often. He would call her every morning and night to check up on her and support her financially.