ABOUT THIS BOOK
Description
She was sitting on the ledge in front of their house, holding a small stick in her hand and playing with it while the other neighborhood children played their own games. She simply watched them with her eyes, as she did not have the freedom to join in and play with them. She was a young girl of about eight years old, tested by God with a condition that caused her to drool, alongside a paralyzed leg and arm on one side of her body. When she walked, she had to drag her leg behind her while her arm remained fixed against her chest.
It was this disability that made the children and other townspeople shun her; they wouldn't even play with her, so she would just sit to the side watching them.
Her True Background
Ilham Bukar Shetima is her real name. Her father, Malam Bukar Shetima, was a native of Maiduguri, specifically from Bama town. The ongoing conflicts in their region led to the death of his parents, which made him decide to join the group of displaced persons to migrate away from their area. He was not his parents' only child; there were two of them, him and his brother named Imamu. However, the chaos in the town caused them to lose track of each other. He wept in deep sorrow over the death of his parents and the disappearance of his elder brother, whose whereabouts he did not know, leading him to accept his fate and migrate.
It was within the group of displaced persons that he met a young woman named Maryam, whose parents had also been killed (leaving her with no one). From the moment they met, he felt pity for her because she was a woman, so he took on the responsibility of caring for her until they arrived in Kano city. The day after they were settled in the displaced persons camp, he took her aside and advised that they get married, as it would be easier for him to care for her than if they remained unmarried. Without wasting time, she agreed, and the elders among the displaced persons performed their wedding ceremony after he paid a dowry of five thousand Naira.
From that moment on, he devoted himself to manual labor in the city until God helped him rent a two-room house in Wudil town, as he could not afford to rent a place in the main city. He disliked the idea of them staying in the displaced persons camp, which was why he rented the place for them. Shortly after moving in, God blessed them with a pregnancy. They continued to take care of the pregnancy until the time came for delivery, where God granted Maryam a safe birth, and she had a baby girl. The child was exceptionally beautiful, as both her mother and father were Shuwa Arab. However, with just one look, you could tell she had a health condition—meaning she was disabled. They did not despair; they named her Ilham. After the naming ceremony, her parents devoted themselves to seeking medical treatment, but everywhere they went, they received the same answer: she would not recover since she was born with the condition. This led them to accept the situation and leave the matter in God's hands.
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