100-year-old childless widow evicted from home by in-laws, relatives
w I live in makeshift kitchen, drink dirty water from pond with cows
w She’s suffering, needs caregiver
-Residents
From Magnus Eze, Abakaliki
The story of Bridget Nweke, a centenarian childless widow of Azu-Ose, Ndeguazu Umuoghara in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, is a combination of neglect, suffering, pity, perseverance and longevity.
The old lady, who is over 100 years old, was married to two different men at different times, at Oriuzor in Ezza North LGA, Ebonyi State and Ehamufu, Isi-Uzo LGA, Enugu State but could not bear a child to any of the men. The men she married have since died.
It was gathered that the first and only time she conceived was during her marriage to the Oriuzor man many years ago. When it was time to put to bed, Saturday Sun gathered, she engaged a traditional birth attendant who inadvertently killed the baby, while trying to pull the baby boy out of her womb.
Since that time, Nweke did not conceive again. Then, she decided to return to her father’s house at Azu-Ose Ndeguazu Umuoghara well over a decade ago from her last spouse’s place at Ehamufu.
In addition to being childless, Madam Nweke also has no siblings – neither brothers nor sisters. She does everything by herself, including fetching of firewood, cooking and general domestic chores, despite her old age.
The old woman told Saturday Sun that according to Igbo tradition, particularly in her Ezza clan, one must return to his or her father’s compound in old age so that the person will reincarnate and return to the father’s house after death.
But Nweke could not get the peace of mind she had anticipated on return to her father’s house that would possibly make her live longer, as her nephews and nieces declared the centenarian an outcast. Surprisingly, these persons are her only surviving relatives.
Nweke was made to be sleeping on bare floor when she returned from Ehamufu where she married last. After few years, her nephews and nieces took her to a makeshift kitchen they built in front of their father’s house and ordered her to live there. The old woman has been living in the kitchen for more than 10 years.
The small structure was divided into two with one part given to her while they used the other part as kitchen. The kitchen built with corrugated iron sheets has become an eyesore because of its deplorable state and leaks heavily during the rains.
Fowls share the place with Nweke who sleeps on a wooden bed made for her years ago by a public-spirited person who saw her sleeping on the kitchen floor as he passed through a track road in front of the hut. The wooden bed is currently in a state of disrepair.
Fowls were coming inside the hut to feed and sleep, last week, as our correspondent interacted with the abandoned old woman. They feasted on what she was to use and make soup.
A dirty pond is the major source of water for the community. Residents and cattle as well as other animals drink from the pond. Mama used to fetch water from the pond known as Okpuru Iyionu when she was not too old. For some years now, that her bones have become weak, she merely relies on some children in the community before she would get water for drinking and other domestic uses.
Nweke told our correspondent that she has never fallen ill and could not remember the last time she took any drugs to treat an ailment.
“My grandson, I have been drinking this Okpuru Iyionu water. I drink it, use it to cook and wash things by myself. You saw when I was washing the mortar I used when you came into my hut where I cook, sleep and stay.
“I have never been sick since I started drinking water from Iyionu pond over 10 years ago. I have not fallen sick and I have never taken any drug for many years as you see me,” she stated.
Narrating her ordeal as a childless widow, she said: “I was born in this community. I got married in Oriuzor, Ezza North and that was my first marriage and that was also the first time I conceived as a woman but unfortunately, the woman who assisted me to give birth, killed the baby while I was in labour. Since that time, I never conceived again.
“When my Oriuzor husband died, his relatives sent me packing because I have no child. I left the place and got married to another man in Ehamufu, Isi-Uzo, Enugu State. While in Ehamufu, I couldn’t conceive again and it became a very serious issue.
“I took a decision and returned to my father’s place which is where I am currently living. I decided to return to my father’s place because where one was born is where such a person will reincarnate. I have been living here for many years.
“I was sleeping on the bare floor when I returned to my father’s place. I slept on the floor for years. I have no brother, no sister. All my brothers and sisters are no more alive. It is only my nieces and nephews that are alive now. When they built this kitchen that I am living, they divided it into two and brought me into one side of it and told me to be sleeping here.
“They started cooking in one side and have been cooking inside it. Smokes from the side they cook disturb me coupled with the sun from the open roof of this entire kitchen.
“Whenever it rains, I am always in trouble because the whole structure is leaking and everywhere is always filled with water. But there is nothing that I can do. It was a young boy that cut a tree in the bush and constructed this bed I am sitting on now. It is this wooden bed that I have been sleeping on since.
“Things have been very difficult for me; life has been generally tough for me. I depend on little donations from some people and our church here for survival. My nephews and nieces don’t give me food. I give money to people to buy cooked fufu for me in the market, I then prepare some soup and eat the fufu. As you can see, I am preparing soup now to eat the fufu I gave people money to buy for me in Eke Imoha, Onueke. I must cook before I will eat and it has always been like that for long.”
Nweke who is always happy, jovial and very friendly despite her pathetic condition, noted that her condition cannot weigh her down. She said that she is even stronger now that she is very old than when she was not too old. She does every domestic chore by herself.
“This firewood you are seeing inside this place I live, were fetched by me. I fetched this firewood in front of the kitchen by myself. The only thing I can’t do now is going to Iyionu pond to fetch water and carry it home because of my old age. I do other things by myself,” she said.
A woman leader in the community, Mrs. Ngozi Iduma described Nweke as a strong woman. She told Saturday Sun that what the old woman needs now is someone to help her with cooking because of her age.
“Mama is so strong; we are surprised that she still comes out despite her age. She fetches firewood by herself, cooks by herself and does domestic work by herself. We thank God for her, she is such a strong woman.
“The problem she has now is who will be cooking for her because when you look at her age, she is too old. She needs someone that will be cooking for her and take care of her. She is not supposed to be doing things by herself,” Iduma said.
Another stakeholder in the community, Emeka Nwonu lamented the level of poverty and backwardness in the area, noting that there are other women like Nweke in the place.
Nwonu said: “We have other women like her in this village. This is why we have been telling those in government that this place is very much backward in all ramifications. We don’t have people in government who can assist people like this.
“We are financially incapacitated; we can’t do anything. We are in government rather but we are not in power, no money to take care of them.”
A public-spirited person, Obinna Alegu who attracted some gifts from some members of the public to the old woman during the Christmas and New Year season, bemoaned the condition of the childless widow.
“Because she couldn’t bear a child, she was chased out of her husband’s place and she went back to her parents’ place in Azu-Ose, Ndeguazu Umuoghara (near Ebiaji, Ezza North council headquarters) where she’s permanently living. No one takes care of her.
“Do you know that this old woman drinks water from the pond? Not only her; other people living in the area drink from same pond. Cattle and other animals drink from the pond. No borehole. No electricity. No good road. In fact, no government presence. A village that is less than ten poles to the council headquarters, Ebiaji, and less than 30-minute drive to Abakaliki.
“In Ebonyi State, Ezza North remains a periphery of the periphery. It’s the most undeveloped. The council chairman and ward councillors are not helping matters. Local governments were created to bring government closer or nearer to the people such that they would have access to social amenities. Why should this widow and others be drinking from a pond when we have a council chairman and ward councillor representing the area?
“I am not even shocked about the condition of this childless woman because I have been seeing her type in Ezza North. Two years ago, when I visited various communities in the area to assist indigent people, I saw hell. Even as I visited the poor in various places, weeks ago, as sponsored by SP Ruka Ruka, I shed tears. There are people at the hinterlands who are really suffering. Some of them see ordinary N500 as a million because they never touched it for the past one month,” he stated.
Saturday Sun was informed that Alegu garnered N271,500 from some kind-hearted people and two high quality wrappers donated by one Mrs Ginika Chukwu, which he presented to the old woman.
He disclosed that effort was on to get somebody that will be “assisting mama cook, fetch water and bathe. We shall be paying the person monthly. I shall do reroofing and plaster the floor of this her abode with cement. I will also buy foam, clothes, cooking utensils and others for her. All these shall be achieved soonest.”
According to Alegu, when he asked the old woman the last time she took her bath, she smiled and said: “three days ago.”