There were 5 of them. She squeezed her large frame into the seat next to me at the back seat of the minibus then began to usher her children in one after the other.
source
“Andrew, George, Tina, Judith,” then she turned to the already irritated woman seated at the door, “abeg help me carry that small one,” she said referring to the smallest child who inserted her thumb into her mouth, waiting earnestly to be carried in too.
The irritated woman gave her a hard glare then lifted the child by one arm and dumped her on the woman's lap.
I nearly chuckled at the sight.
The smallest child was already seated comfortably on her mother's lap while the rest were squeezed in the tight corners around their mother's seat. I wondered if any of them could breathe.
I would have assisted in carrying a child but I was already with a large bag of foodstuffs which I had dragged along from the market.
When it was time for the passenger seated next to me in the bus to alight, the routine began again. The woman seated next to the door seemed to regret why she took that particular seat. I could not blame her, it was completely annoying to be inconvenienced despite paying the same amount as everyone else in a vehicle.
The large woman seated beside me began to drop her children one after the other, she had to alight as well because of her size before the passenger could drop from the bus.
Then while he was paying and getting his change, she hurriedly ushered her children back onto the bus, this time it was more convenient because there was an extra space.
I shook my head in pity.
Those children were barely 2 years older than themselves, In as much as it was none of my business, I couldn't help but wonder. How was the woman herself coping? My sister had two toddlers and I knew the amount of care they required.
I could imagine having 5.
Little wonder some countries regulated the number of children each family had. I turned to look at the children again. Apart from the smallest of them who still had her baby fat, the rest were lanky and hungry-looking.
Again, it was none of my business but I couldn't stop wondering. With the economic downturn in the country, how were they surviving? How did they manage to get at least 3 square meals down the throats of those children? Did they even go to school?
I knew Nigeria was quite an underdeveloped country but I felt at that point that either a sensitization program was held for these women, or a law was passed that no family should have more than 3 children.
I knew the limited number of children per family rule would take some time to sink in but they could at least begin with 3.
When it was time for me to alight from the bus, we all went through the same routine of dropping everyone at the back seat first, the woman at the door quickly jumped into the space where I just came out from, completely glad to be free from the stress of that woman.
I almost laughed out loud.
I couldn't shake that event on the bus off my mind for almost half of the day. Imagine that a woman had just 2 or 3 children, it would be easier for her to navigate both their personal and social lives.
I wondered if the government was not bothered about the economic downturn and if they were, what they were doing about it. I felt it was their obligation to look out for their citizens, that was why they were the leaders of the country.
If they could lay the one child or 2 child per family rule just like China did, then the economy would look up and families would survive better.
I haven't even spoken about the population problem we have in the country, where there are so many people that despite the so many flats, houses were barely enough for people to live in.
There was the factor of unemployment as well, too many people but hardly any jobs for them, making survival even tougher.
I had the strong feeling that If Nigerians could be sensitized about not giving birth to more children than they could cater to, the country would be easier to survive in.
Some women even still upheld the archaic mentality that women were married just to bear many children for their husbands and they made it a point of duty to do so, wholeheartedly.
Personally, I didn't want more than 2 children, not because I didn't want stress but because I didn't want to bring innocent people to suffer in this already difficult country.