Rayuwa Da Gibi Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

Hamdi at Home and the Arrival of Guests
Hamdi was washing clothes in the courtyard while listening to the conversation between her mother and her younger sister, Zee. She did not join in, because by nature she was not someone who liked noise or too much talk. She only smiled whenever they said something funny.
“Will these clothes of yours even get a chance to dry, Hamdi?”
At the question, Yaya looked up at the sky, and Zee did the same. The sun was still visible, shining brightly everywhere, but if one lifted one’s eyes farther, one would see dark rain clouds gathering in the distance. Hamdi began thinking of shortening the washing so that the clothes she had already finished could at least find space on the doors of their rooms to dry, when they heard the greeting of some women arriving.
Happily, Yaya rose from the mat where she had been sitting and headed toward the entrance passage, dragging her left leg, the one that had been affected by polio. It seemed the visitors they had been talking about since morning had finally arrived.
“Welcome, Altine!”
Yaya’s voice and that of their guest could be heard from the entrance before they returned to the courtyard, the visitor’s hand resting on Yaya’s shoulder.
“Oh, my friend of so many years. So life truly allows one soul to see another again? How have you been all this time?” the woman asked in a flood of emotion as they stood.
“Only الخير. Life itself is nothing but gratitude to God,” Yaya replied. Then they embraced once more, laughing warmly.
Altine’s daughters, along with Hamdi and Zee, stood staring in amazement. So the stories they had heard about their mothers were true. They had now seen it with their own eyes. Their mothers had once been very close before any of them children were born, back when they all lived in Agege, Lagos. Many things later happened that led both families to return to Jinjin, their hometown in Kano. Poor communication and the struggles of everyday life gradually weakened that close bond they had shared as neighbors living in the same compound. It had now been seven years since Altine’s family also returned to Kano, yet they had never met again until God brought their husbands together through a man who knew both families. Through him they got news of one another and even exchanged phone numbers.
Altine was a robust, cheerful woman, bright like a cotton field in bloom. Her husband, Maje, was a butcher and made his living from that trade. Since their ancestors were the same, they both carried the tribal marks of that inherited profession on their cheeks. Altine was lively and restless, always moving so much that one would think the body she wore could not really be hers. With that open, spirited personality, she drew Jinjin close to herself, even from the first time she visited, because Jinjin’s condition and her husband’s nature had made her withdrawn from people. In her husband’s large family compound, where twelve households lived and everyone constantly came and went, she had been teased endlessly while growing up. It was only because her husband was not a weak man that people kept their distance; his tongue alone was enough to silence them. But once he left the house, the moment she stepped out even to the bathroom, people would laugh at the way she walked. Altine carefully observed her and realized that what frightened Jinjin most was the mockery of the Hausa women around them. So she became her voice and even her hands. Whenever matters got out of hand, Altine could beat a troublesome woman thoroughly and without apology. When they separated years ago, Altine had only one son, and Jinjin had been pregnant.
“Where is Baballe now?” Yaya asked, her voice filled with longing.
With obvious delight, Altine, whom her children called Iyaa, replied, “He has gone for national service in Benue.”
“Allah sarki. Time flies. When I last saw him, he was still toddling.”
They laughed together again, their joy beyond description.
Old Friendship, New Introductions
While all this was happening, Hamdi and Altine’s eldest daughter were looking at each other with a different kind of recognition. It was the kind of recognition mixed with fear and tension, though for different reasons on each side. As if their mothers knew, they chose that very moment to introduce their daughters to one another.
“So you were already pregnant with Hamdi when you moved away?” Iyaa asked.
“No, it was actually her elder sister, Sajida. There are five years between Sajida and Hamdi. She is not here now. She went to Abuja to stay with my niece who just gave birth.”
Iyaa smiled and said, “Allah sarki,” then pointed to her eldest daughter. “So this is Sajida’s age-mate, Ummi. Not long after you left, I gave birth to her.”
While Yaya had four children—Sajida, Hamdiyya, Zinatu (Zee), and Halifa—Altine had three: Baballe, Ummi, and Siyama.
After the greetings and settling down were over, Yaya sent Zee on an errand.
“Hurry, go to Lami’s house and ask her to give you the soft drinks I left with her,” she said, then explained to Iyaa that their transformer had been stolen and they had been without electricity for almost three months. Then she turned to Hamdi and said, “You, go and tell your father that Altine Maje has arrived.”
Iyaa quickly told her there was no need, since Ummi’s father had dropped them off at the gate and had already called her husband.
“I think he described where your husband works, because he said he would go there so they could come back together.”
They continued their conversation, and this gave Ummi the chance to signal to Hamdi that she wanted them to leave because she needed to talk to her. Hamdi deliberately looked away as though she had seen nothing. That annoyed Ummi so much that she suddenly stood up and said she wanted to use the bathroom. The moment Hamdi heard that, she knew what was coming. Reluctantly, she led her into their room. Although their house was built around a courtyard, each room had its own bathroom inside. Their father had designed it that way, saying he did not want anyone forced to step into the courtyard at night, in the rain, or in bad weather just to move around.
The moment they entered the room, Ummi turned around with a stern face.
“I am going to tell Iyaa that we attend the same school, but don’t you dare let your loose tongue make you tell anyone about my life at school.”
“All right,” was all Hamdi could say, though her heart was pounding. Today, the water had truly run out for the crocodile; the secret she had hidden was about to be exposed.
Clearly upset, Ummi adjusted her headscarf the way she usually did when intimidating other girls at school.
“Don’t just relax because this is your house. You know school will soon reopen. And you already know who I am, nobody needs to tell you.”
Hamdi simply walked out of the room, her chest tightening with unease. It was not Ummi’s threat that troubled her most, but what her presence in their house meant: her hidden truth was on the verge of being uncovered.
Hamdi’s Secret and the Burden She Carries
The reason Hamdi had chosen boarding school was exactly to avoid a day like this, a day when some girl from school might come to their house. Even at school, she had no close friend. Her relationship with everyone remained limited to polite greetings and the academic help she gave them whenever they needed extra explanation. God had blessed her with the gift of understanding lessons quickly as soon as they were taught. Since entering the school, she had never dropped below the top three positions.
Twice, the school had wanted her parents to attend so she could be honored in their presence, but each time she stopped it. The first time, she said her father had traveled. The second time, she claimed he had been in an accident and broken a leg before she returned to school. When she noticed they might follow up by visiting the house, she cleverly sent an invitation through Yaya, suggesting that her mother was the one nursing him. Her class teacher eventually realized that there was something painful she was trying to hide, and he informed the school authorities not to pressure her. They were already used to seeing difficult family realities among students. Since Hamdi was not being denied education, and she always returned from holidays with her school fees fully paid, he said they should simply leave her alone. From that time on, whenever there was any award ceremony, she only came home with her prize.
Hamdi was not ashamed of the world seeing Yaya’s disability, but when it came to her father, it was different. He was the one who had placed this weight on himself, and she did not want people outside to associate her with him. Many times, she and her siblings would sit together and wonder at the strange destiny that had brought their mother into marriage with a man like their father. For all his faults and oddities, they could only say it was fate and God’s will.
At the heart of Hamdi’s struggle was not pride in the ordinary sense, but fear, embarrassment, and the exhausting effort of protecting her family’s private pain from becoming public talk. That was why Ummi’s arrival shook her so deeply. It threatened to pull down the careful wall she had built between her school life and her home life.