“Shush...”

he said as he covered my mouth with his hand while I try to remove them.

“But uncle...”

I said while trying to free myself from his grip.

“I said shut it! The more you try to talk back at me, the more you get me upset... So if you know what’s best for you, you keep it quiet.”

he said in an abrasive manner.

I couldn’t understand why uncle Tolu had brought me into that dark tiny room that could barely fit both of us.

The eerie feeling I keep getting from uncle Tolu’s strange behavior was causing enough terror in me, and I had to go through being squeezed into that small room.

“Ehmm... Amara, you know you’re a delicate girl, and I wouldn’t want any harm to befall you. “

He said while his hand caressed every part of my body.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. “

I said as I became engulfed in fear.

“What I’m saying is that you are now becoming a woman. I have been noticing a lot of changes in you, and I am here to protect you from wolves,” he said.

I didn’t know what he meant by protecting me from wolves, but I was certain I wasn’t safe in his hands, either.

Uncle Tolu is our neighbor, and I’ve been fond of him since I was 10 when he moved into the compound. He would help me with my school assignments, and most times hold extra lessons for me and other children in our street.

Uncle Tolu was my mom’s favorite person, not just her. He won the heart of every parent living in that area. We trusted him because he was the Uncle Tolu everyone knew about.

However, when I turned 14, things changed. Everything about me changed slowly... And uncle Tolu took notice too.

He suddenly changed. He was always extra with me, and that alone made me very uncomfortable.

So I kept my distance. I would no longer go to his place for my assignments, nor run errands for him.

It was on Sunday afternoon, we just came back from church, and my mother was dishing out our food. My mother would always dish uncle Tolu’s and have me run to his place to give it to him. Of course, it wasn’t an issue cause he was like family, but I no longer was comfortable going.

Most times, I would fake a headache to avoid going or plead with her to let my younger brother do it instead. My mother never asked me why I shy away from going to his place constantly when I was never that way. rather, she concluded I was being lazy.

So that Sunday afternoon, after my mother had adamantly insisted I deliver the food myself, I went and met my worst nightmare.

In that small, dark room, Uncle Tolu took advantage of me. He ripped me of my innocence.

He said it was a practice of what men would do to me when they see me, and he was only enlightening me.

I loathed him, but I loathed my mother more. She never warned me about men like Uncle Tolu, nor did she read the signs I kept showing her.

Only if she had let me stay back, this wouldn’t have happened. I kept thinking to myself.

I was only 14 years old... I was a child.

My only crime was hitting puberty early, with no knowledge of what it meant.

Then I wondered, was I the only young girl took advantage of?

Are they more young girls who went through what I did in the hands of Uncle Tolu?

I prayed and hoped I was the only one who was tortured and hurt by uncle Tolu.

That’s why I am pleading with all the women out there. Don’t forget the young lads.

We were once girls. Let’s enlighten the young girls about the do’s and don’ts.

Let no one fall victim to the likes of Uncle Tolu.

Happy International women’s day!

Let’s help our girls grow into amazing women, so they can see the beauty of womanhood.


© Joyce Godswill