THE BACK STORY
She was not my target that Saturday morning.
I had left the hotel for a nearby pharmacy to buy my medication and to snoop around for whatever I could get in the hood.
The previous evening, I was supposed to walk to the hotel from the restaurant where I had lunch. The restauranteur had assured me that it was like a ten-minute walk. Just as soon as I started the walk, it began to drizzle. It was like God was smiling at me.
Then came a lone keke – commercial tricycle for the uninitiated – as if it was sent to rescue me. I waved at the rider and he turned back.
Riding along, I began to ask him my usual questions, top of which was how long has he been in the business? Clearly, he was one person whose tori would be worth hearing. We agreed that he would join me later in the evening. But, when I called him at the appointed time, his phone rang out. He called me back about thirty minutes later to apologise that he was still busy, and we agreed that we would meet “early tomorrow.”
He called me and said that he had an urgent delivery to take care of, and asked if we could meet later. We could not, because I would be at the airport at his scheduled time.
It was looking like I would leave Owerri without a tori when I stumbled on her, when I stepped out of the electronics store on the premises where she sells her corn.
It was her spectacles that attracted me to her. I thought that she could be a retired teacher or even headmistress.
I approached her and after exchanging pleasantries with her, I asked, “how long have you been doing this?”
She replied brusquely: “E don tey.” I wanted her to be specific but she was not in a mood to answer me. I was wearing my “The Journalism Clinic” t-shirt – a gift, by the way, from Pelu Awofeso – so I told her who I was and why I was interested in having a chat with her. No, she said emphatically. I was determined to squeeze water out of this rock.
Then I had a flash of thought: call the restauranter whose tori I had published before to help persuade her that I did not have any evil intentions.
That was how she became a bit more relaxed, after I had spent about one hour trying to get her to change her mind, and oblivious of checking out at noon at the hotel.
All is well….
Early life
I am from Mbano in Imo State.
That is where I was born over sixty years ago on 10 September, and it is also where I grew up.
My name is Stella Chukwu.
My parents, Andrew and Janet Maduabuchi, are late.
They were both farmers.
They farmed maize, cassava and cocoyam.
Both of them are no longer here with us.
They had seven of us – five females and two males.
I was the third born, with two women senior to me.
I attended only elementary school, the Community School, Mbano.
I was an active player of handball, not netball.
I started playing when I was in Primary Four, till I passed out.
No, I did not attend a secondary school.
I do not know the reason why.
In 1980, I went to Enugu to stay with my elder sister who was then living at Uwani Street.
I helped her to sell oranges at the market.
I also hawked the oranges on the streets.
Later life
From selling oranges, I became a dispenser of drugs at two different pharmacies, one in Enugu and the other in Owerri.
I was trained on the job.
The first pharmacy where I worked at, was called Anyaegbu Pharmacy.
It was then based at Obioma Street, Enugu.
I spent three years working here.
The owner of the pharmacy died.
I got married.
Then we moved to Owerri and I worked in another pharmacy whose owner fell ill and could no longer run it.
Then in 1987, I started selling corn, and I have been doing that from this spot on Aladinma Road by Cherubim. It is so called because of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church at that junction.
It was not easy selling on the road. I was here when the Okada (commercial cyclists) people started.
It was the Entraco (Environmental Transformation Commission) people who moved sellers like me off the main road.
I was lucky to have found space in front of this building at 2 Ikenegbu/Aladinma Road.
I sell from January to January.
I sell the one from the north from January to April while from then on, I sell the ones from Issele-Uku in Delta State.
In between the seasons I sell all kinds of fruits such as cucumber and pawpaw.
I also sell groundnuts in bottles.
I cannot complain at all: business is fine
I wake up at about five O’clock in the morning to go to the markets for the goods I sell.
I have become used to it.
I will remain in business as long as God gives me the strength and He wants me to continue.
I have used my business to support my husband in the raising of our three children – two boys and one girl. I have a son who is a computer graduate and he is need of a job. Hope you can help.
My husband appreciates all my efforts to support our family.
My advice to younger women is to help in supporting their husbands, and their children in their homework.
Thank you.
*This story was written by Taiwo Obe and first published in Mytory.ng
