Ajali

The birth of Ajali

she has been there for an hour, beads of perspiration flows through her body, the nurse attendants had given her some herbal mixture to ease the pain she feels. she can feel her strength diminishing with each passing time. Ada had suffered through out the nine months journey and the long awaited time finally arrived. she thought the birthing wouldn't take much time as she had followed the processes of giving birth to a child in her clan. she had listened to the different advice from her fellow women. Some asked her to walk through the mountain and down multiple times, all of which she adhered to. The funniest of all is that Chidimma her neighbor asked her one day to take Aju mbaise, a herb prepared with some root and leaf meant to cleanse the system after childbirth. That has made her stop taking advice from everyone as they all claim to have motherhood experience. As she lay on the birthing mat with chalk drawn on her face and a red piece of cloth strapped on her mouth to prevent her from shouting which is seen as a sign of weakness in Umuachi clan, she couldn't help but have this mixed feelings. The feeling of joy a mother has while welcoming a new born, and that of fear of the future. Her husband Osinachi had told her if she gives birth to a female child, she would go to her fathers house from there. She has failed to be a part of the society that sees female child as a waste. since the day her husband revealed such intentions, she made up her mind to raise the child her self if it happens to be a female. According to the culture of her clan, it is forbidden to know the s*x of a child while still in the womb.The evil gods would eat them up in the womb or turn them into a cat should their s*x be known. While still in her reverie, she never knew her water has broken revealing a redish hair with a big black eye. The midwife; Ugomma who has been encouraging her for the past hours of labour flashed her gap tooth as she caught the tiny baby in her hands. Ada looked at the child who has been part of her heart beat since nine months,tears of joy flowed on her face. Now she would take care of this child like never before. Luckily she will do that in her husband's place as it is the right s*x he wanted. He never knew the journey she went while seeking for this son. She had consulted the six deities of her clan. Who had told her the consequences of seeking a child from the gods in the time which is not appointed by them. Ada is getting to her menopause and was tired of waiting for the right time. She asked the chief priest to go ahead and summon the gods to bless her with child. She had drank all the mixture the medicine man prepared for her and also bath herself with olake water. A stream where no one is allowed to bath because of its sacred nature. It gets very hot in the morning and cold in the afternoon.The last deity had revealed the