The Lens Magazine Aug. 2017 | Page 37

The Soft Issue
August 2017
Story from Within
Hiring a help takes a long process
in Nigeria and most times you
might be unlucky to fall into the
wrong hands and employ a help
that maltreats your kid.
baby makes a whimper, everyone shifts their
attention to me and I will have to leave the
class.
At some point, I would even attend classes late;
especially 8AM classes. Early morning lectures were
never my favourite. Because I have to wake up very
early, take care of myself and my baby in a rush so as
not to be late for class. On some mornings, my baby
would want to sleep and since I have a class, I have
to wake her up and this leads to extra fussiness which
also requires extra breastfeeding to soothe her. This
is so that she does not disturb me while I am in the
classroom.
Also, when you are in the class with your baby, you
can never give a 100% concentration. You are bothered
about the baby’s need and not wanting to distract your
classmates and the lecturer. Most times when the
Getting help was not easy. Hiring a help takes
a long process in Nigeria and most times
you might be unlucky to fall into the wrong
hands and employ a help that maltreats your
kid. However, in my own case I was able to
get a help when my baby was 7-months old.
She would attend to her while I am taking
classes. Even at that, I still run out of the
class whenever she starts crying. If I don’t,
everyone’s stare would demand me to.
I even had a lecturer say— “Iyawo, isn’t that
your baby crying?”—making me look like an
uncaring mother. In fact, during one of our
exams, I have had to hurry out of the hall
to attend to the need of my daughter who
was weeping profusely. I often say to myself
that examination period is when you start to
wonder why life is so unfair to you.
©Al-Faruq Akinwumi
37
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