Repercussion episode 1 – end

Repercussions episode 1
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In whatever we do in this life, we should consider how our actions and decisions would affect our future generations. For whether we believe it or not, the actions and decisions we make today are likely to affect our children in the future; either positively or adversely.
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“No, don’t even suggest that at all. My parents will never hear of it. My family is not a dumping ground for illegitimate children”, Ugochi snapped at Akin who was surprised at her outburst. Akin maintained his cool and tried explaining to her, the weight of the consequences of her decision. “Sister, I am not saying you should just have this baby. I’m responsible for the pregnancy and I am ashamed of my sins. But we should confess our sins to God and your parents no matter how shameful it may sound. We have sinned and killing an innocent child is a greater mortal sin. Please let’s not bring more punishment upon ourselves”, Akin pleaded with her. Ugochi who knew the sequence of events in her family declined the idea and insisted that she was getting an abortion. After saying that, she stood and left, leaving Akin more regretful.
Ugochi was the fifth child of six children and the third daughter of four daughters. She was the most academically brilliant amongst her siblings. She was smart and knowledgeable. Her quest for education was strong and her Christian background strengthened her resolve to be educated. Her father was a pastor while her mother was a medical doctor. Their parents put in so much efforts in training them and making sure they turned out great. But something was amiss. Ugochi’s eldest sister, Sharon, gave birth at home at the age of twenty. The circ-mstances surrounding her impregnation were not clear. She claimed that a neighbor forcefully had his way with her but when she was asked to identify the neighbor, she couldn’t. She rather told her parents that the incident was hazy and she couldn’t remember. Even the police investigations and the medical examinations carried out yielded no results.
Their parents dismissed her claims as excuses, admonished her but took care of her and the pregnancy until she put to bed. After having the baby, she continued with her education. Ugochi’s immediate elder sister, Victoria, also had a baby at home at the age of twenty. The circ-mstances surrounding her impregnation were also unclear. She claimed to have had alcohol for the first time at a friend’s birthday party and passed out. That she woke up and discovered that her genital hurts. When she checked, she found out that her hymen had been broken. She kept the incident from her parents until the pregnancy showed.
The news of their second daughter’s pregnancy was a great blow to Ugochi’s parents. It was a dent on their images both as God’s servants and as respected people in the society. But they didn’t have any other choice than nurturing the pregnancy and ensuring adequate care for their daughter and grandchild. Due to the incidents with their first two daughters, Ugochi’s parents kept close eyes on their younger daughters. They (the parents) never stopped advising them on the dangers of keeping friends of opposite s€×. They also made sure that they (the daughters) had all they needed to avoid being enticed with material things. Their close check on Ugochi and her younger sister worked until she gained admission into the University.
On campus, Ugochi was a firebrand Christian. The only things that caught her attention and occupied her mind were studying and the things of the Lord. She was well know among her classmates as a loner who had no friends nor engaged in any social activities. It was in the campus fellowsh¡p that she met Akin, who was the assistant student pastor. They became friends, studied the Bible and prayed together, often. Their friendsh¡p was totally platonic with no atom of rom-ntic attractions. Ugochi was so happy to have met someone whose goals and hobbies aligned with hers.
On Ugochi’s twentieth birthday, she didn’t have a celebration as other students did. She rather went over to Akin’s apartment for a prayer session ushering her into her new year. After the prayers, they sat down and were discussing when a strange spirit possessed them. The spirit was so strong that they couldn’t control what they were doing. Before they could regain the control of themselves, they have had s€×. Immediately after the s€×, the spirit possessing them left and there eyes cleared. From then henceforth, they had been praying and asking God for forgiveness.
Few weeks later, Ugochi discovered that she was pregnant. She was devastated. She thought of all the shame the news of her pregnancy would bring to her if exposed, both among her classmates and in the fellowsh¡p. She also thought of the shame her parents would face if the news of another of their daughter having a child outside wedlock is heard. She equally thought of how disappointed they’d be with her. She decided never to allow the news come to light.
As she left Akin’s house that day, she headed straight to a hospital. She was going to terminate the pregnancy no matter the condemnation it would bring upon her soul.
What became of her?
Why were all the daughters getting pregnant at 20?
Find out!!!
Repercussions, episode 2.
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Ugochi walked into a private clinic not far from Akin’s house. She didn’t know anything about abortions, she hadn’t the faintest idea about it but her resolve never to bring another shame to her family gave her the boldness she needed. She walked up to the receptionist’s desk and requested to see a doctor. The receptionist asked her if she had an existing folder in the hospital or she was there for the first time. She (Ugochi) answered that she was a new patient. The receptionist told her the cost of opening a new patient folder and she paid without wasting time. After that, a folder was opened for her and she was led in to see the doctor.
“I want to have an abortion”, Ugochi bluntly said to the doctor immediately after she sat down. The doctor was surprised at how bluntly she said that. He (the doctor) had come across many young girls who had come for abortions but they were mostly shy to say why they had come. Even the wayward looking ones. But Ugochi, a young girl dressed so decently with no unnecessary makeups, body piercings or anything that suggested waywardness, boldly stated her ungodly mission. That was an irony. The doctor asked her if she had done that (abortion) before then and she replied negatively. He then told her all the likely after effects of what she was about doing, the lifelong guilt and the possible regrets that may come afterwards. After giving her these lectures, he asked her if she was still willing to terminate the pregnancy and she answered in the affirmative.
The doctor then asked her for the details of her pregnancy; when she had s€× and when she discovered she was pregnant. After getting these details, he told her that she could have only been just three weeks pregnant, thus needed just pills and not D&C to flush out the foetus. Ugochi paid the exorbitant bill the doctor presented and collected the pills for the termination of the first fruit of her womb. Before she left, the doctor warned that she’d bleed heavily for days after taking the pills, therefore she should take blood replenishing foods and wear sanitary pads throughout the period. She thanked him and left.
In the evening of that day, Ugochi took the pills as the doctor prescribed, wore sanitary pad and p-nt before going to bed. She woke up early the next morning with a stomach upset and heavy flow of blood as though she was seeing her period. She was glad that the pills were working and that her family had been saved from further shame. Surprisingly, the bleeding didn’t last for days as the doctor said, rather it stopped that evening. That didn’t bother Ugochi as she thought that the foetus was small and had flushed out already. Also, she felt fine and had no signs suggesting that she was still pregnant. She moved on with her life as though nothing happened.
About a month later, while Ugochi was in her parents’ home on vacation, she fell sick and was taken to a hospital. Series of medical tests were run and it was discovered that she was two months pregnant among other minor sicknesses. The pills failed after all. The news of her pregnancy was the worst blow yet to hit the family. The third daughter of the pastor had taken in again out of wedlock. Her parents were devastated. The shame was so unbearable that in their private time, Ugochi’s mother suggested to her husband for them to terminate the pregnancy. She stressed that it was no longer ordinary for their daughters to be getting pregnant out of wedlock at twenty. But Ugochi’s father rejected that suggestion. He stressed that even if it was not ordinary, that killing the child wouldn’t be a solution rather incurring the wrath of God. He insisted that it was better they bore the shame than dent their heavenly race.
They resorted to taking care of their daughter while seeking for the solution to their ordeal. The news of Ugochi’s pregnancy filtered into town and got to the church where her father was a pastor. He (Ugochi’s father) was suspended from ‘pastorsh¡p’ and given a backseat in the church. He and his family members were also subjected to deliverance sessions. These sessions which were carried out by the church’s prayer warriors team were aimed at delivering the family from the spirit possessing their children and proffering solutions to their problems. These prayers went on for months without a solution yet.
Time went by, Ugochi nursed her pregnancy while her family sought for the solution to their ordeals through prayers. Finally Ugochi was due. She went into labor and was taken to hospital. At the hospital, she had a hitch-free delivery and gave birth to an incomplete baby boy. The child was born with no feet and a ‘not well formed’ ear. The abortion pills Ugochi took at the early stage of her pregnancy had affected the formation of her baby. The wh0le family was devastated. They were still mourning the birth of the child when a call came from the leader of the prayer warriors team. He (the leader) summoned Ugochi’s parents to the church. He had a revelation in which the cause of their family problems was shown clearly.
Ugochi’s parents left immediately to the church. They couldn’t wait to hear the cause of their problems and get a possible solution. Just after they had sat down in the prayer warriors leader’s office, he (the leader) looked Ugochi’s father straight in the eyes and said “brother Levi, you are the cause of your family’s problems”.
What did he do?
Find out!!!
Repercussions, episode 3.
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Kosara was a young girl who had come to the city to live with her aunt and complete her secondary school. She was academically brilliant but had a high level of naivety when secular things matter. She came to live with her aunt’s family immediately after taking her Junior Secondary School Examination (popularly known as Junior WAEC). Soon after she came to the city, she started her senior second school. Her stay in her aunt’s house was peaceful and fulfilling as she was nicely treated as though she was their biological daughter. She loved her new home.
The landlord of the house where Kosara’s aunt and her family lived was an averagely aged pedophile who delighted in having s€×ual relations with girls far below his age. He derived s€×ual satisfaction from bedding housemaids and naive teenage girls who didn’t know anything about s€×. He usually deceived them using flashy goodies he knew their parents and guardians couldn’t easily provide for them. This landlord who preyed on innocent naive girls had a nephew who lived with him and his family. This nephew of his was just a little above Kosara’s and had unconsciously learnt the bad ways of his uncle.
The moment the landlord noticed Kosara’s presence in his compound, the ungodly urge he had for underage girls rejuvenated and he became obsessed with bedding her (kosara) just like the others. He tactically made his advances, passed his message using gifts and faked care to kosara and waited patiently for the catch of the trap he had set. Unfortunately, naive Kosara fell for his antics and started off a forbidden s€×ual relationsh¡p with the landlord who was old enough to be her father.
This sacrilegious relationsh¡p between Kosara and her aunt’s landlord which didn’t last long was discovered by the landlord’s nephew who knew about his uncle’s immortality. With this discovery, he (the nephew) saw an opportunity to have a taste of Kosara’s sweetness. When Kosara refused, he threatened to bring her relationsh¡p with his uncle to light. For the fear of exposure, Kosara gave in to his demands and thus became a piece of flesh shared between uncle and nephew. When the landlord had enough of Kosara, he moved on to another naive girl while his nephew continued from where he stopped.
Eventually, Kosara got pregnant while she was in SS 3. That was a few months from her twentieth birthday. Her aunt found out about her pregnancy and was devastated. They (she and her husband) had planned to train her in the university before they knew she had been put in the family way. They felt disappointed but weren’t going to abandon her. Upon serious interrogation by her aunt and her husband, Kosara fearfully named the landlord as the father of her unborn child. She gave a detailed account of what transpired between her and the landlord, leaving out the part where the landlord’s nephew took over. Her aunt and her husband were convinced with her story and confronted the landlord.
He (the landlord) totally denied having anything to do with Kosara. “You people must be mad to come to my house with this rubbish. You insulted me by ever believing such slandering story from your wayward daughter who couldn’t even say who got her pregnant. The only reason I’m letting this go is because I am a good person. Let this be the last time you will ever say such”, were the landlord’s words before he asked them to leave his house. His (landlord’s) wife was also by the side raining abusive words on Kosara for trying to cage her husband with pregnancy. This broke Kosara’s heart the more and she cried bitterly. Her aunt who felt the pain of the supposed denial and insults cried as well.
As they (Kosara, her aunt and her aunt’s husband) were leaving the landlord’s house, Kosara’s auntie stood on the balcony, looked up at the moon and with so much heaviness in her heart she said “as long as the moon still rises, any man who is responsible for Kosara’s pregnancy will be met with the same fate. May his daughters suffer the same fate as my daughter, Kosara”. The landlord was not disturb because he knew he didn’t make Kosara pregnant. His nephew who was actually responsible for the pregnancy was happy that he wasn’t mentioned. Everyone went on with life.
Few years later, the landlord’s nephew repented while in the university and found salvation. He further enrolled into a Bible school and later became a pastor. His sins were forgiven but his penance remained. The landlord’s nephew was Mr Levi Onwubiko, Ugochi’s father. The sins of his youth had come to haunt his daughters.
What happened next?
Find out!!!
Repercussions, episode 4 (the end)
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“Brother Levi, you are the cause of your family’s problems. You committed a grievous sin in your youth and was cursed”, the leader of the prayer warriors team said looking Ugochi’s father in the eyes. Ugochi’s parents were utterly confused as they looked at the prayer minister inquisitively. While they looked on, Mr Levi searched his mind, seeking for that grievous sin he had committed that had brought so much pains to his family. His search yielded no results as he couldn’t remember his sins. His wife turned her gaze from the prayer minister and focused it on her husband, probably waiting to hear him voice out his sins. But nothing was heard from him, rather he looked more confused.
“A woman placed a curse on your daughters through you in your youth days. A woman whose daughter you got pregnant and abandoned”, the prayer minister said, cutting through their individual thoughts. On hearing that, Ugochi’s father scre-med “Kosarachi”, to the amazement of his wife who was still looking at him in confusion. He then went further and narrated all that happened when he was living with his uncle and how he thought the curse was not for him since Kosara didn’t mention his name. In conclusion he said “those were in that past before I found light. How come they persisted even when I have found salvation?”
The prayer warriors leader further educated him, indicating that some spiritual entanglements, especially justified curses, require special prayers particularly directed at them before they can be severed and undone. He also revealed that the solution presented to him in the revelation was locating either of the two women (Kosara and her aunt) and asking them for forgiveness and reversal of the curse.
Learning of this revelation, Ugochi’s parents got a new assignment which was locating Kosara or her aunt and obtaining forgiveness from them. They had to do that urgently to prevent their last daughter from meeting the same fate as others. They started by going to Mr Levi’s uncle’s house where Kosara and her aunt lived to inquire about their way about. No one knew anything about them. They also went to the company where Kosara’s aunt worked to know if the details of her nativity could be found but to their disappointment, the company has since closed. They became frustrated and lived in fear for their daughter. After searching for so long without results, they gave up the search and resorted to intense prayers.
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Brother Akin finally got through to Ugochi on phone after he had tried reaching her for a long time without success. His joy knew no bounds when he heard that the baby was not terminated. He thanked God and promised to come and see her as soon as he could. He also told his mother about the development and made arrangements for them (him and his mother) to visit Ugochi’s family. He had all along sworn to atone for his mistakes by making sure Ugochi becomes his wife and the only woman he’d have s€×ual relations with all his life. This decision he related to Ugochi and asked her to discuss it with her family.
“No daughter of mine would be married off without a university degree. It is bad enough already that my daughters are suffering for the sins of my youth. That I may not be able to control but making sure you have a university degree is within my reach and I must make it happen”, Ugochi’s father shouted in agony when he heard of Akin’s plans of marrying Ugochi. He went over to where Ugochi was br-astfeeding her baby, placed his hand on her shoulder and said “Ugo nwa m, I want the best for you. If I could choose, I will choose to suffer for my sins alone so that you and your siblings would have the best life. But I can’t. The best thing I can do for you now is making sure you are equipped for the life ahead. Having a baby shouldn’t mean the end of your educational aspirations. You will go back to school and make you dream of becoming a medical doctor like your mother come true. Besides, from your description of Akin, he is too old for you”. As he spoke, tears of regrets escaped from his eyes while Ugochi cried. His wife who couldn’t watch any further as the father bared out his heart to the daughter, ran out of the room with her hands covering her face.
When Akin heard about Ugochi’s father’s refusal, he didn’t feel bad. He understood his reasons. Yet he insisted on visiting Ugochi and their child. Ugochi’s family agreed to that and a day was agreed on. Early morning on that Sunday, Akin and his mother who was his only family set out. Before mid day, they had located Ugochi’s parents’ house using the address given to them. When they arrived, Ugochi’s father had not returned from church but they were warmly welcomed by Ugochi and her mother. Soon afterwards, Ugochi’s father got home.
As he entered the sitting room, he saw Akin carrying Ugochi’s baby. He (Akin) looked familiar but Ugochi’s father couldn’t place his face accurately. He (ugochi’s father) shifted gaze to Akin’s mother who sat on the same couch with Ugochi. On beholding her (Akin’s mother), Mr Levi staggered backward and scre-med “Kosarachi”. Akin’s mother saw him and whispered “Levi”, with her mouth agape.
Akin was the result of Mr Levi’s youthful mistake and the father of his own sister’s child. These children had become entangled by the ripple effects of their parents’ mistakes. Something they never bargained for nor took part in.
I believe we have seen one of the reasons why we should be mindful of what we do as humans; both young and old. For the things we do wrongly may in one way or the other affect our future generations.
Thank you for reading.