DOYIN'S DIARY: The Misery Behind Those Hawking Legs

Be fast now...
Why are you so slow...
Give me change na...
Why you no go get change...
See as you dirty...


She deserves love. That little girl hawking "gala" in the traffic you're stuck in. Why don't you at least consider her tiny little legs and just smile at her after being at your service.

Adedoyin would always fret whenever the clock hit "Ten" at night. 10pm in her life denotes the boisterous face of her step mother and the beginning of night duties.
She would always do things sluggishly because of the stressful nature of her daily routine.
Doyin wakes up by 4am in the morning to prepare her six-in-a-pack walnuts to sell throughout the day, sets out for the day's work by 6am on empty stomach, walks about 120 kilometres between 6am and 10pm and sets out to go home and eat dinner with "mummy".
Doyin wouldn't eat dinner until her stepmum was sure that all the wares were completely sold out and that the money was complete- not just complete, but extra complete (because , of course, someone must have told her "keep the change"). And if there was no extra, she would be tortured until she coughs out some extra money. Most times, she stole from careless pockets, just to avoid torture.
She would eat a noiseless dinner and hurriedly fetch water for her parents to bathe the next day and save herself the stress of fetching for herself because that would mean an extra mile for another bucket and she can forego bathing, just to rest her tired legs and get some sleep.
Doyin would lay down at 12am, but would cheat herself out of sleep because she would reminisce on everything that happened throughout the day; from the deep injury she sustained while walking down the lightless street leading to her house, to the narrow escape she managed from the wheel of a drunk taxi driver, to the unknown "Golaith" who squeezed her butt, to the angry buyer who called her a snail, to the frustrated meat seller who called her "mumu".
Doyin would fall asleep by 1am after thinking about these things and wake up to a stinging spatula spank from her "mum" and continue her daily routine without bathing, not to mention the chopped-off slippers she has to wear for wearing sake instead of protection sake.

              photocredit: fihintography

Why not be the element of laughter in Doyin's day. There's nothing wrong in telling her she looks preety even with her untidy hair. Absolutely nothing wrong in telling her to keep that Fifty naira change instead of letting her run after a moving vehicle while you've already eaten the Walnuts halfway. Why not accept that dirty Hundred Naira, instead of yelling at her like she made the money so. Why not teach her the right thing to say instead of calling her a rude child. Why not smile at her when she says "Aunty, will you buy?", instead of giving her a disgusting look or even winding your car window up against her.

                   photocredit: dailytimes.ng

You live in a totally different world from Doyin, whether or not you see it.
While she's praying for traffic, you're praying against it.
While you've had breakfast and intend to use her walnuts as brunch, she's still functioning with the "Bread and Akara" dinner she had last night.
While she's running after you, where you're sitted comfortably in your air-conditioned car, her legs are weary but the fear of torture won't allow her pay attention to them.
While you're mocking the trouser she doesn't wash, she's busy calculating the next pocket to pick to make up for extra profit.
While you shower at night, Doyin can't, because she's too tired to walk extra miles to fetch water.
While you can afford an injection to treat yourself when your leg gets pierced by a rusted nail, Doyin can't even mention her injury because she would be flogged for being so blind to see the nail lying on the floor and the injury might as well be wickedly treated, so she has to pretend that everything is well with her legs and make sure she doesn't limp while walking.
While you're driving your children to school, they're busy pointing at her walnuts asking you to buy for them to munch during snacks break.
She's so focused on selling her wares that she's oblivious to what is going on around her.

HELP DOYIN!

There's nothing wrong in taking ten packs of walnuts from Doyin daily to resell at your retail shop.

You can help Doyin by not yelling at her when she stoops to rest a bit at the pavement in front of your shop.

Doyin and her friends are rude but they weren't initially that way.

Frustrated buyers made them that way.
Violence at home made them that way.
Peer pressure made them that way.
The need to defend themselves against rash-talking buyers, made them that way.

If you're going to make Doyin cry, let it be because she is too emotional to bear the fact that you told her she's beautiful, not because you threw her walnuts back at her for being too sluggish to "give you change".

The fastest way to kill a child is through his emotions. Don't kill that child! Give him a "high- five" or "knuckle-bump" after serving you.
Smile at everyone of them!
Don't let them in your world of hurt. Bring them out of theirs!
Show love to that child today!
Bless up guys, it's still a new month!


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