ABIKU

 

In ile yoruba, Abiku is the name that 

They call a person with ways like mine.

And sometimes, they would say boya

toba pada wa, a duro. 

And in other occasions, they would give me a mark that signifies that I once lived on earth. 

They believe that I belong to a tribe. 

Of certain creatures that never last through time. 

And sometimes mammi says, jo duro simi. 

Other days, she prays over me. 

Today, I might be dying. 

I want to choose between my culture and the westerners exposure. 

I am not certain the cause of my death. 

One time, the man in the white body said it was pneumonia and I was unkempt. 

But baba elewe omo says it is the calling of awon omo egbe.

So I don’t know the type of death that would take my soul. 

But I know I am shivering and throwing up. 

And a part of my body has no blood.

Baba says wonti mu lor. 

The white man says to try a transfusion. 

Lorakan, none of it happened. 

I dropped dead on Mammi’s legs. 

The whole community began to wail.

Opapaparada o sise mor.

Even the stethoscope can’t feel my soul. 

In other words, omo awo ti lor. 

A child is gone. 

What then shall we say of this? 

Kini afe ba Olodumare fah?

Perhaps, when next I come, we then shall find an answer.

Written by Olu Ajoba

Category: Meds/Tribe

Articledepth.blogspot.com 

STUDY SPACE: 

1. Pneumonia is an Infection that inflames air sacs in one or both lungs, which may fill with fluid. With pneumonia, the air sacs may fill with fluid or pus. The infection can be life-threatening to anyone, but particularly to infants, children and people over 65.

1. A stillbirth is when a fetus dies after the mother's 20th week of pregnancy. The baby may have died in the uterus weeks or hours before labor. Rarely, the baby may die during labor. Although prenatal care has drastically improved over the years, the reality is stillbirths still happen and often go unexplained.

1. Abiku refers to the spirits of children who die before reaching puberty; a child who dies before twelve years of age being called an Abiku, and the spirit, or spirits, who caused the death being also called Abiku.