Uguru

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The Eke’s family had three girls of the 60s and three of the 70s generations, way before the two from the 90s; and so it was no surprise that guys lurked around trying their luck to see if any of the girls could be theirs. Some of the men were genuinely looking for love while some others had ulterior motives and a few wanted to be just acquaintances. 

Getting ready for Christmas Mass in Lokpanta was always beautiful for me, I always looked forward to the day because I knew that every piece of clothing was new. As the youngest of the 70s Eke's girls, I had my things safely kept in Beatrice’s room. 

Christmas mornings were usually very cold and waking up was a problem but mother would wake up before everyone and by the time she would come to wake us up she would already be half dressed and I always wondered then how she had so much energy and focus. Now that I am a mother, I know that some things just come with motherhood.

Waking up in “uguru” season on those days was not exactly easy. Uguru is the harmattan season and it was always severe in Lokpanta especially in the mornings. At that time, the cold would be accompanied by the whistling uguru breeze and the belekwukwu the bird would be providing a melody that sounded so close like it was perched by the windows. 

That time was usually when the sleep was so sweet. We would be cuddled under our blankets, half asleep and half awake, enjoying the free beautiful gifts of nature and suddenly, the door would open and Beatrice would say “ngwanu, uka bukwa 10’O Clock”. (Get ready, Mass is at 10AM)

A typical Christmas Day in Lokpanta, before or after Mass

She would be in her bra and long “shimi” and her face made up. She would tell us that her bathroom still had hot water from her heater and the first few people would be saved from the stress of boiling water. She normally said that to entice us.

The generator always went off at midnight or a few hours after midnight depending on Beatrice and Ferdinand’s activity for the night. I am now old enough to know that adult play sometimes made them leave the generator longer. The longer the generator was on the more hot water we had.

For obvious reasons, the heater in the girls’ bathroom always ran out of hot water because of the traffic especially if we had friends for the holiday.

The boys bathroom was spacious and also always had hot water but they would give the girls a hard time if we wanted to use their bathroom. 

Somehow we always got through the mornings; once we braved it to the bathroom and had a hot bath, and applied the delicious looking stella pomade we were good. That petroleum jelly, "stella pomade" was a life saver in those days and it was never scarce in our household. 

Sometimes Ferdinand would offer us the Vaseline he always used for his hair. It was his preferred brand but we loved the perfume that the stella pomade gave to us.

After my bath, I would eagerly and happily start to open up my new things, I would start from the little cotton panties which Beatrice would match with a vest which usually had lace on its straps and if my dress required a panty hose, that would also be new or just a girly pair of socks. 

I think that my love for socks till date was because of the way Beatrice always had many packs of beautifully colored socks for us to choose from. If I wouldn’t be perceived as mentally deranged, I would still wear a pair of pink socks to church. Lol!

The bigger Eke girls would dress up in adult clothes that they picked for themselves and they also got themselves to the church. Baby brother Odera and I usually went with Ferdinand and Beatrice in the Volvo which made us very happy. Sometimes, we posed for pictures in groups before or after Mass depending on the timing.

Odera and I loved to ride in the Volvo for some reasons.  It was the first automatic car in the Eke’s household and also the only one we preferred to big sister Ebere’s Mustang. We loved to play with the windows because all we had to do was press a button and it was not so much hard work like the 504 or 505 or the other cars that were all manually operated.

Going into the church was also what I looked forward to because I knew all eyes would be on us and it did not help that we had our special seats set out for us in the church. Ferdinand made sure of that which I learnt was to ensure more people were accommodated in the limited church seats. I know now that Ferdinand also had some “effizy”. 

As a little Lokpanta girl, sitting in the church and seeing girls my age who did not have the opportunities that I had made me realise that God loved me unconditionally. I would often ask myself why I was born into the Eke’s family in a village that was plagued by poverty. Why was I not one of the poor girls clothed in the cheap dress from the Nkwo Market or "Orie Awgu" which almost all the girls in the church also wore?

Sometimes, we would leave the church upset that our sleep was disrupted only to come and listen to homily given by the Catechist because the Priest did not make it to our village. The Catechist would lead the Mass and we would receive communion spiritually; the big kids would be upset and complain that father would have just conducted the Mass in the chapel at home. 

As for me, I would just be happy to be out of the house, to see other kids my age although the kids were usually very hostile if I tried to be friendly.

We would usually be home around 1pm and while we would be having our Christmas lunch the visitors from other towns would start to come. Hearing an unfamiliar sound of a car at the gate in those days was delightful because we knew it was not a local visitor. 

We were so familiar with Lokpanta to know that our spouses would not come from Lokpanta. We were raised up differently and the only way we would marry anyone from Lokpanta would be if the person had a similar upbringing. The few who came close in those days were related to us. These days when I see people from Lokpanta who are doing well for themselves, it makes me very happy.

Ferdinand was like a one man squad who could only assist a limited number of people even though he experienced a lot of ingratitude.

There was no way we would marry farmers except they farmed like Ferdinand, or hunters or palm wine tappers  or vulcanizers or drivers or mechanics. Most of our friends both male and female were usually from other towns; friends that we made in the city.

The 60s Eke girls would have told Beatrice and Ferdinand that they were expecting some guests to avoid any embarrassments. Ferdinand would simply call you up while your guest would wait in vain for your love, hahaha! The guest will just leave in frustration and the shame will be on you. So Ebere, Nkechi and Obiageli knew better than  to spring up surprises on Ferdi and Betty.

We, the younger ones would watch and I would dream of when I would be allowed to have male visitors. I always loved to have my big sisters in Lokpanta because it meant more fun activities. Gosh! I hated it when they started to leave home, it was not the same ever again and we had to get used to the new reality. It must have been very lonely for Ferdinand and Beatrice when we all left home eventually.

When Ferdinand would force everyone to take some siesta, it was gisting time and the big sisters would bring out the biscuits they had purchased from their pocket money and we would feast on them. Mcvities rich tea, short bread and digestives were some of the biscuits we indulged in. 

There were also packets of Oxford cabin biscuits which the big kids who had been to boarding school taught us to eat like cereal with a lot of powdered milk. Then the can cokes and fantas that we would help ourselves with from Ferdinand’s room. For some reason, Ferdinand also had cartons of caprisonne that he would let us have and I saw him a few times sipping on a satchet of caprissone like a child. Lol!

When the big girls had more responsibilities and reasons not to come to Lokpanta for Christmas, I began to learn that life had different stages. At a time, going home to Lokpanta was not negotiable, it was a must, gradually, father and mother began to ask if we would come and gradually some never  came anymore because of marriage and eventually it became a blessing if all the children were in Lokpanta at the same time. 

I made a conscious effort to be in Lokpanta every single Christmaas even when I was old enough to choose not and I am glad I did. The first Christmas I spent in another town after I got married was a miserable one despite all efforts by new family to make it nice. 

Onitsha was a big city and filled with a lot of activities but I simply missed my poor Lokpanta and I missed belekwukwu. I began to second guess myself about getting married.

The Uguru in Onitsha was different, there were lots of cars and the noise was very disturbing. That year, I missed the peace and serenity of where I was from and all I wanted was to be in my father’s house in Lokpanta with Ferdinand and Beatrice eating "abacha agworo agwo"