Obodom

“What is happening to me?” she managed to ask one of the ladies. Instead of an answer, the lady looked at her patronizingly without altering a word. The tears came naturally as she wondered ‘she is only a child, will she be able to go through this?’ With the assistance of the rest, she took her to a hospital. Being a nurse, she was aware that the young girl’s medical need was going to be complex. ‘Will she survive it?’ She equally wondered. ‘It is only time that will tell,’ she concluded. Realizing the young girl was waiting for an answer, “your baby is coming,” she answered trying to hide her worries with a smile. Her medical experience alerted her to the danger the girl’s life was confronted with. Her baby’s situation was no better. It will be a miracle for her to deliver normally. She was absolutely too young and her organs still too tender for the ordeal of child bearing. She equally needed no telling that Juliana never had any form of medical attention from the time of conception till then. She can only hope for the best, that both her and her child survives. ‘Dear Good Lord, please grant her the enablement to survive this’ she prayed silently. “Please don’t ever leave me. Don’t ever send me away. There is nowhere to go. I don’t want my baby to live like me. I don’t want anyone to harm him or beat him. He is ‘Obodom’- my community, my life, my friend. Help me protect him.” The young girl pleaded with her. This heralded the birth of Obodom. His mother was but a child who got pregnant when she was abused. Fortunately he fell under the care of a kind foster mother who nurtured him to adulthood. He was determined to overturn the ills of the society that befell his biological mother. It was a personal oat and a solemn one too. He was all committed to it and was willing to stake all including his life for it. His initial effort was to personally do the much he could. There were however numerous areas of intervention required to really make an impact. The only change therefore that could be meaningful would only be that achieved through purposeful leadership. To effect this change he started to meddle in the affairs of the state and politics. This naturally gained him powerful enemies who were also determined to have their way. His life was greatly threatened but he was encouraged by the memory of his late mother. He was aware that his greatest weapon would be to raise the consciousness of the populace. Once that was achieved he knew he would never lose whether killed by his antagonists or alive.