She couldn't help the excitement on the day of her departure to her
uncle Forley's house in Monrovia.
Ma Yaa has prepared the clothing and fabric beddings for her, and a
cluster of yams, cassava leaves and, potatoes into a basket for Janka to carry along on her journey.
Her father, Arthur Gbowee has brought a tax from the Konobo market, and Janka loaded her belongings onto it.
Ma Yaa gave a folded piece of paper containing Uncle Forley's phone
number to her, then she gave her a warm and emotional hug, and
whispered, "be good and take good care of yourself Janka,
okay ma," she replied with an emotional grind, and she waved
goodbye as she hopped into the taxi.
Her father, Arthur Gbowee, waved goodbye with an unsatisfied look upon his
face and he turned back and went into the house.
The taxi drove out of the compound, going down the d streets as the
water drained downed into the earth. It was a long drive from the village
to Monrovia and quiet longer to where her uncle lived.
The taxi stopped at the red light market, where she alerted and
loaded off her belongings. It was a busy and crowded marketplace and
there was a lot of activities too.
Janka stood scared and confused in the market square, she has never
seen a crowd like that before. It was twice bigger and busier than the ones
she has seen in the village.
She made her way through the crowd, leaving her bag and belongings at the police service booth. At an old police service booth,there was a man with a telephone, he looked like a policeman,but on the other
hand,he seemed like a business vendor. Janka asked the man for a phone.
And the generous man landed his phone over to Janka. " I don't
know how to use it' Janka said, with the contact number clearly seen on
the paper.
"Do you want to call that number?' the man asked.
Janka nodded positively.
" Give me that paper' , he said, and she extended the piece of paper
over to the man in the service booth he dialed the number handing the
phone over to her.
It was her uncle Forley, on the telephone.
She greeted him nicely. They talked about the long road trip, and
the name of the market in which she was dropped at.
The call ended, and she handed over the telephone back to the
man in the old police booth. " Thank you Uncle! She said.
'Okay , are you new in Monrovia? He said, " Yes, I have come to live
with my Uncle', She replied. "Be Safe, take good care of yourself, don't
stay out late at night", he advised.
Janka smiled as she walked way back to her belongings on the other
side of the old booth.
After a while, the man from the service booth hastily came to Janka
" your Uncle is here!, the man you called on the telephone is looking for
you". Before she could outer another word, " Here he is!" The man said.
And an dark skin, light beard, average height man erupted from behind
him. It was her uncle, Forley.
The man approached her, "you are growing bigger than your age'
he said with excitement. "I have heard a lot about you, Janka,
where are your belongings?, we are going to my house" he added.
Janka safely loaded her belongings into her uncle's car and they
started off. In the car, she was cold and afraid, she wasn't used to the
AC temperature. And the humming from the engine terrified her if it
was going to blow off.
"I live at Sinkor Old road, my house is not too far from here' said
Uncle Forley. Janka was assured and tired in the car ,she has had a long
trip from the village, there wasn't a space for further discussions as Janka
was noticably tired.
They finally reached to the home of uncle Forley.
It as a small concrete house surrounded by many small zinc houses
Janka curiously looked around.
A tall, round shape, dark skin emerged from uncle Forley's house.
"This is my wife, her name is Yatta, she is your aunty", her Uncle introduced. ' Hello Ma, Janka greeted. " How are you dear? aunty Yatta,
greeted back. "Let's take your things upstair, go and take a bath immediately! Then you can go to your bed room ' she added, with a mean and
grotesque countenance on her face.
She went to a small room ,it had a toilet, and a shower inside. She
has never seen anything like this before.
Janka supposed she was living a dream come true. She thought about her parents, her village and the flooding streets surrounding her home.
She was utterly amazed by the sweet smelling soap in he bathroom
tub, and water from the shower was crystal clear like the sky. When she
was done bathing, she walked into the room given to her by her aunty,
and took out a sky blue dress from her bag and wore it.
After dinner, her uncle called her to the sitting room, as he held a
white rectangular sheet in his hand. Janka was not sure what it was.
" This is paper is the information sheet from your school", her Uncle
said.
It is a located not too far from this house, added. ' it is Called Beatitudes Primary school". He concluded.
That school is too expensive!' Said aunty Yatta, I think it would be
nice if Janka goes to another school", she added.
"Janka can make the decision for herself, sad her Uncle.
How old are you? aunty Yatta asked, " I am twelve years old' Replied
Janka. 'Then it is obvious you cannot make decisions of your own', her aunty concluded.
" Well since that is the case, what school do you have in mind honey?
He asked her, she responded," The economy is wearing down by day, and
we have a lot of bills to pay in this house, why don't we sent her the People's Institute' it's not too far". She ended.
Uncle Forley replied, okay sweetheart". You can go and get the information sheet for me, dear". " I will do just that baby!' she ended.
One Morning, she woke up with a severe headache and shivering as the cold from the air conditioner in her room forced her to withdraw to the lower corner of her bed, as she wrapped herself in a sky blue
beddings made of roughly knotted fabrics by her Mother. She had been
lying in bed until the sun rose up, uncle Forley was hastily getting ready
for work as he didn't take notice.
In the kitchen, aunty Yatta was making spaghetti and sauce for
breakfast, and the sun peeped through the kitchen, illuminating the window blinds, casting a yellowish vertical diagram on aunty Yatta's face.
Suddenly there was a shout from across the other room, it was uncle
Forley who shouted, "JANKA! where are you? You are will be late for
School! And the echo from the blast sank deeply into her ear drum
summoning her from her bed.
Janka sat up at the edge of her bed staring at the sunlight through the
window. There were a moderately loud footsteps on the hallway floor. It
was uncle Forley who returned back in to the house to see why she
wasn't yet prepared for School.
When he approached her room, he saw her sitting on the the bed
still and looking through the window.
"What is the matter Janka?, he asked. "It is my head', she answered.
What is wrong with your head?, her Uncle questioned. ' I don't know, but
it is paining and I want to vomit".
Oh Janka, please don't do this, you should be starting School today,'
said Uncle Forley; moreover, you never did before", he pitied. But Janka
was still helpless and seemed nauseous.
"Okay, I'll bring you some tablets for headaches and then you put on
your school uniform, you know you can't miss school today, it is your
very first time Janka, he said.
"And aunty Yatta has made us breakfast, come to the dinning room ,
there you can eat and take your medications'.
Janka unwrapped the beddings from her body, and reluctantly
rose up and took a walk through the hallway into the dining room. Her
Aunty had already distributed the spaghetti, and settled into a chair in
the dinning room, staring at Janka with a mischievous grind, " Come and
sit here!, that is my matrimonial chair,' that chair is where i sit when am
discussing interesting matters to your Uncle, Aunty Yatta added.
'let her sit there, the are all the same chairs ', uncle Forley interrupted. 'No, this girl needs disciplines, she needs to know her place in this
house, Said Aunt Yatta. " Sooner we will have a child of our own, then we
will decide who sits anywhere, She ended.
Janka who was still trying to recover from steady fever hastily rose up
and sat into the other chair far left where Aunty Yatta was sitting.
And aunty Yatta settled into the chair where she has been sitting.
Later on after breakfast, uncle Forley hugged his wife and bid her
farewell and he took Janka's back bag dropped it in the back seat as Janka hopped into the front seat and they drove out towards the road side.
At the School, her uncle dropped her off to her class she he
went to the principal's office.
Janka sat quietly in the class looking around, as she could hardly
see anyone her age. Her classmates were all manners, probably below the
age of nine, the smallest in her class seemed to be a six years old boy. She could hear the students recite the alphabet from A -Z clearly, and a
word spelled out in bold letters that read "KINDERGARTEN CLASS'.
Janka was curious about the meaning of the words written so big.
She was a cute and very shy character. So she never bothered asking
anyone until the class room teacher, a fair, slim lady pointed a cane to the
word written in bold and shouted, " K-I-N-D-E-R-G-A-R-T-E-N, and
all the kids recited the exact word together.
Janka wondered how long it would take being in this class, she knew
it was very low grade for a twelve year old girl.