DEAR MOSES...--by Slick

(Image source: www.ctvnews.ca)

“Bartender, serve everybody beer for here!” Moses declared in a loud voice, trying to beat the volume of the music blaring from the DJ’s speakers at a beer hub just opposite his house. He was already on his fourth bottle of Legend Extra Stout. He was in high spirits as he had just received news of the successful delivery of a baby boy he had cried to the heavens for after already having four female children.

Every time he received news that his wife had given him a female child, the only thing on his mind was his legacy and who would carry it on to the next generation. The girls were going to be married off to some men and there would be no one to take care of things when he was no more. He had quarrels with his wife often times over the preference he gave to the male child.

“But all Children come from God. I don’t decide what forms in my womb,” his wife Rose would constantly say in a sad tone.

“Woman you won’t understand. All these erima wey you born put for this house, they would all be married off o.”

Let’s be frank. Even with the highest levels of education; an African man still holds having a male child in high places. To them, a male child is a symbol of strength and pride. You know that feeling when a man points out to his friends and says with a proud smile, “That’s my son,” and the so called friend would reply saying “He really looks like you.” (Was he supposed to look like the doctor that took his delivery?) But this mentality has done a lot of damage to the female folk.

My peeps in the North would tell you that only male children were allowed to go to school. The women ended up as baby making machines and full time kitchen staff. Sad! Why? Because history itself holds records of feats achieved by women which many men wouldn’t achieve in their lifetime.

Women are like a coin, they can make and destroy. A woman can help build and a woman can facilitate destruction more deadly than a bulldozer. Therefore, be it male or female, we should count children as truly a heritage from God; Freely given, even though we do engage in some physical exercise when the neighbours are fast asleep.  One can never tell what your female child can grow to become. If you happen to have all females as children, does it mean that you go ahead to commit suicide? No! Because your bundle of joy might just be the next Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Obama or Aisha Buhari. No gift from God is a bad gift.

A male child would definitely be a plus, but let us learn to treat our children fairly. This is not to say that only the men are at fault here. There are women that believe that they have had enough female children and would want a male child if not, it would seem like she had failed her husband.

It’s time for us to delete this evil thought from our minds and then begin to appreciate every human being that comes out with us from the labour room. Meanwhile, let me approach Moses for my own Heineken beer. No time to say No time.