The Stigma of Her Life. (True Life Story of Jane, The Campus Babe)

I was resting on the rail built to surround the balcony of our house. My eyes were roaming instinctively around a flamboyant flower in front of the house. I was actually praising God in my mind for the beauty of nature. What necessitated this was when I saw different types and sizes of beautiful, colourful, properly winged butterflies dancing up and down the flower and sucking at it nectar and causing some pollen grain to fall off.

This absorbing sight of natural beauty and wonders of creation engulfed me so much that I could not notice when someone walked pass me. Suddenly, in my absent mindedness, I was startled and almost fell to ground following a declaration that came heavily from the parlour right behind me.

“Yes! I said it earlier on, but you wouldn’t listen; now you indulge in this moral absurd behavior to tarnish my name as a Knight of the church?” Immediately, I got hold of myself; I turned my attention to the scene, realizing the voice to be that of my neighbour, Mr. Obong. He’s a retired soldier with the might of a war veteran; no wonder his voice almost “tore the walls apart”. He was charging on his daughter Jane, for bringing shame to the family. Yah! She brought shame to the family, and her father rightly, chastised me. This is her story.

Gaining admission into the higher institution was indeed, mind boggling for Jane. It was her first experience away from home; so you can understand why it was a life defining adventure for a teenager like her, whose character and her personality were molded by such liberation from parental tutelage. The awe of independence was very exhilarating and more so in a citadel of learning like University of Calabar. In fact, with that euphoria, she got swallowed up in the hullabaloo and fun filled packages in the campus.

In her first year, Jenny met a lot of people for the first time; she fell in love as suggested or so she thought but, she somehow managed not to go overboard at that early stage. In my opinion, one of the greatest challenges a fresher faces in the university is an emotional one. Yes! That’s the truth. The naivety of the freshers seems to be an accentuating factor for them to be exposed to danger

In her second year, Jane met this young man, young, brilliant and handsome Henry; a man in the real sense of the world. I wouldn’t bore you my dear reader with what her heart or stomach experienced the day he asked me out, but I will tell you what happened after she told him to keep those feeling away for they are better off as friends. He tried to keep away from her but; she realized and insisted that we stick together as mere friends. He accepted, and they moved on.

Jenny was somewhat loose with the man, and that was her Achilles’ heel. In fact, it didn’t take a lot of time before she started passing the nights at the guy’s house, even though they weren’t in any serious relationship. Hmmm! Did I tell you that she was the beloved of the family? Yes, she was! She was the first child of the family and it took another seven years for a second child to come. So, she was over-pampered to a point that even her father’s strict military commands’ did not go much to me. In fact, on the contrary, she was loved more by her father.

Unfortunately, she misused the opportunity and time, and grew stubborn and sluggish. As a result of her carelessness and laisser-faire mentality she failed two classes, and when she managed to get to the final class, she couldn’t sit for the final exam because she was already expecting her first child with her ‘friend’ Henry. Due to the shame associated with her condition, Jane hurriedly left school to stay with her cousin in Lagos. I don’t need to say that the pregnancy brought her academic vision to an abrupt end

However, Henry had now graduated after he refused to elope with the girl, and said he wouldn’t want to have “an irresponsible, care-free illiterate as a wife”. All effort to convince him to absolve Jane given that she did those things to help him secure a brighter future yielded no fruit. He insisted that “the lady should go and get educated or at least some civility and carefulness”. No doubt, their love and romantic co-habitation was in abeyance as he treated her abrasively; while Jane’s predicament continues. Yah! He pushed her out of his expensive abode; and in all these the young Jenny never accosted him.

Jenny left Henry to her father’s house just to beg her dad, even if it means enrolling her into an Adult Education Programme to enable her gain some learning and rectitude. She cried and hoped another opportunity can come for her to make amends. It was at the point that her dad jumped into the parlour, furious and, suddenly, I was startled and almost fell to ground following a declaration that came heavily from him: “you had better stopped begging us, you useless and bloody idiot. You misused all you opportunity and had made yourself a laughing stock.

He warned her acidly, “Go back to your boyfriend or whatever you call him, you no longer belong to this family and in fact, you are disowned forever”. The young girl was abashed and left their house without any forwarding address. She can’t go back home, her dad has disowned her and her mum is late; her step mother doesn’t care about her at all. The step mother accused her dad of spoiling Jane with goodies. What about her boyfriend? He threw her out of his house long before now; and her aunty in Lagos is so disappointed in her.

Poor Jane must have realized that fortune lost can never be regained; meaning that she has to live with this: “Stigma for the Rest of her Life”

Mr. Nwaimo Chibuzor
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