What My Father Did To Me

By Enyinnaya Ubochi, Owerri

… No husband,  no children! A 95-year-old woman narrates how her father prevented her from getting married,  bearing children

If there is a singular wish 95-year-old, Susanna Nwachukwu from Owerri, Imo state, craves for in her next life, it would be to be a rebellious and stubborn girl, one who will not obey or listen to her father’s instructions.

Growing up, had Susanna been a stubborn young girl and disobeyed her father,  she would have probably eloped with any of her many suitors and would have today been a proud great-grandmother. But at 95, Susanna does not have children talk more of grandchildren or great-grandchildren. And this is because she was never married.

She was not married not because in her prime,  she lacked suitors. According to her, suitors came in droves from far and wide but her Catholic zealot father insisted his daughter must marry a Catholic.

However,  unfortunately for Susanna, none of her suitors was a Catholic except a Cameroonian “but my father turned him down.  He said Cameroon was too far”

Narrating the heart-wrenching story of how her father aborted her dream of getting married and of having children in an interview she granted to a blogger,  NELOJOSH,  the 95 old woman explained that she obeyed her father because during “our time,  you dare not disobey your parents;  it’s whatever they asked you to do that you would do”

Still very articulate,  witty, and agile at her age,  Susanna who spoke in Igbo language and occasionally interjected English, said she was born on the 27th November 1927.

According to her,  she worked with Shell for about 9 years and with Emekuku Hospital for 21 years.

With a glint of regret and resignation to fate visible on her face,  the 95-year-old spinster said:  “I was in standard four when suitors started coming for me. They came from everywhere,  including Cameroon but my father refused.  He said they were not Catholics.

“My father was a prominent, staunch Catholic in those days. The Cameroonian was a Catholic but my father said Cameroon was too far.

“My father was stubborn and strict. During my time,  you dare not disobey your parents;  you do whatever they ask you to do.

“All my siblings were lucky to get Catholic suitors and wives”

She disclosed that her parents gave birth to eight of them and that she is the second child. However, only she and her younger sister are still alive.

On whether she regrets her father’s action, Susanna answered in the affirmative:  “I regret my father’s action, his action is painful but what can I do?  I can’t kill myself. If I was married and had children, wouldn’t be suffering today. But I have put all the pains and agony of not being married or not having children behind me;  I’m now waiting for my death”