She's Alive!!! Yes💪

I was in the kitchen helping Alice to fry Akara (beans cake) when my phone rang. 

"Hello?" I said as I picked the call.

"Aunty, ya kuke(how are you all)?"  

"Lafiya (fine)," I replied, trying to let the voice register so I could tell who it was without giving myself away. But the next question shocked me. There and then I knew it would be tough knowing who was calling.

"Ya su Mummy?" 

You see "su" is plural. That means she was asking for Mummy and Daddy. "Ya kuke," she asked earlier covered me and my siblings.

"Ya su mummy" meant she was asking for both my parents. 

Okay now. 

This person must have been absent from my life for a number of years to be asking after my parents. 

So I humbled myself and gave up trying to guess who it was and just asked,  "Wa ne ne(who is this)?"

Then the bombshell...

Jesus!!!

I would have dropped my phone if I was holding it but my shoulder and cheek were supporting it while I talked, so it was protected.

"Biba "

"Biba? Ina kike (where are you)?"

"Kano. I'm in Kano."

My God.

Years ago, she left my house after making my hair and I think Bariyat's..

If you remember me with those beautiful, tiny cornrows, it was Biba that used to make most of it. 

My mum and I loved making hair. When I discovered Biba, she became a family member. 

Any time I wanted to make my hair, I'd call her and book an appointment. Once she comes, she would spend days making hair for me, Mummy and any of the girls who wanted to make their hair. 

If they were not ready, they would fix another date. It was normal. Other people got to know her as well. 

So on that particular day in June or July, she made my hair and Baryat's. Mummy wasn't ready or had planned to do something else, so she booked her for the weekend. We were preparing for my brother's wedding, so Mummy used the opportunity to also book her ahead for the third week in October, to make everyone's hair.

Daddy was alive and seemed to be recovering then.

Biba left that night and we bade her farewell, expecting her back by the weekend. 

The weekend came and passed. Weeks, months. Then daddy passed, the wedding was postponed, no sign or trace of Biba. Her number was mostly switched off. The day it rings, no one would pick. 

Sms would sometimes get delivered but with no response.

The wedding came and passed too.

No one seemed to know anything about her.

Then one-day Yebyen mentioned that her neighbours said they last heard from her when she left to make someone's hair in Kano. This was in June/July.

Her kids had to be taken to her Mum after a while since there was no word from her.

She was presumed dead.

Reason?

Her life revolved around her kids. She would not be alive and leave them alone for months. 

She sometimes was gone for days but was always in touch. Her neighbours helped keep an eye on them when she was away but, she would always keep in touch.

"When was that?" I further asked.

"June/July."

It coincided with the time she left our house. So we asked Baryat, "Where did she tell you she was going to make hair when she left here?"

 

"Kano." 

Mogbe! 

Mum was livid!

"Why didn't say something? I wouldn't have allowed her to leave for Kano at that time of the day! I would have kept her till morning!"

It was past 7pm, so it was quite late.

Mum blamed herself for not asking where the customer was and assuming it was around the vicinity of Barnawa/Narayi or H/Cost.

We prayed all manner of prayer for her safety. We made enquiries, but months had passed.

This happened in 2017.

We found out in 2018.

After a while, two years or so, Evangelist Esther Kures, aka Maman Kim said "Biba is alive. I feel it strongly. She'll come back." 

These words I held on to dearly. You see, asides from making our hair, she had truly become family. I was pained and wondered how she'd just disappear without a trace.

Sometime after Mummy died, we got word that she was alive and had been seen in a "Certain Country" by someone who travelled and came back.

I couldn't stop telling who cared to listen that she was alive!

But there was no way to reach her. 

Mum's prophecy has come true. Biba is alive!

But...

I felt she was trapped in that Country, so I prayed for her liberation. Oh, how I prayed! You can't even begin to imagine! 

I would think about her and wish she'd find a way back home to Nigeria.

Holy father! You can imagine my joy and excitement when she said she was in Kano!

I went on to ask her what she was doing in Kano. 

She told me she was working in a certain place. I asked if she still makes hair and she said rarely. 

We caught up a bit and then I had to answer her question, "Ya su Mummy?"

Toh!

I told her they had transitioned. 

Of course, she couldn't hold back the shock! She kept shouting. 

She calmed down after a while and asked about everyone by name. She asked if we were still living in Barnawa; if Dennis' wedding had taken place...

I sha gave her updates about everyone.

She said, "if only I had talked to you yesterday", which was a Friday, "I would have left for Kaduna early today", as there were elections going on in Kano, so they were work-free. She said she'd come some other weekend. 

I asked about her kids and she told me her Mum was taking good care of them. She was able to come home and had seen them. They wouldn't stop crying. How would they? 

How!

She may never know how deeply I cared about her or how much she meant to us. We all cared about her and were very fond of her.

From my Daddy to the youngest person...

Regardless of what she thinks...

I'm super grateful to God she's alive and well.

I look forward to her visit! I pray I'm around when she comes. 

Help me thank God for Biba. She was gone for almost FOUR years! 

I believe our hope and collective prayer preserved her. 

Never give up on people, especially those you care about.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE if you believe!

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!!!

P. S

She wasn't in Nigeria but a country outside Africa.