Blessing

Chapter 22

229 22 y 1980, when Joseph was leaving to assume service in Douala where he had been posted as a police inspector, the household had received three additional members. A baby girl Angelina had been born the previous year and two of Joseph’s nieces had moved in to help with the day-to-day care of the three children now aged ten, eight and one. Two teenage girls, two school age boys, one nursling, and an adult, Mozart – that was the composition of the household of the thirty-year-old woman walking in the shoes of Blessing Tepo. Blessing’s educational pursuit had also recorded some successes. The secondary school certificate in her pocket after five rather than four years, she had set out to own a high school certificate, which had come after three other years of hard work. A one-year break from school had been well-deserved. With Peace still on her heels, Blessing had soon returned to school, a professional one this time. After a few years of secretariat studies, she could now punch at a typewriter with the speed of fifty words per minute, write official letters, file documents and perform other administrative duties. The world of jobs now stood open to her. The jobs came at her but she stepped aside to allow them to pass. She was after one which assured a specific salary and which came with a contract that would allow her enough time at home with her children. Who could have thought Fatti Ashi would one day be choosing jobs? She often marvelled at how far she had come. She could afford to pick jobs since she had a spare purse. At the end of each month, she went to the Post Office and collected the sum of fifty thousand Francs earmarked for house rents and family upkeep. Joseph took charge of the major financial engagements when he visited his family. Through his spontaneous financial contributions, Mozart was also proving to be very helpful to Blessing. After obtaining his high school certificate, he had enrolled in the University of Yaoundé. Like every other university student, PhD or not, he received a monthly stipend, thanks to which he had moved into a room in the student B 230 residential area. However, when Joseph had been transferred to Douala, Blessing had pleaded with him to return and provide the security of having a man under the roof. She, like everyone else, knew it was just a matter of time before he again moved out, this time to start his own family. How she dreaded that day! For one who had dedicated the last twelve years of her life to studying and home management, Blessing Tepo turned out to be a committed professional as well – she eventually received a job offer good enough for her ‘yes’. So apart from being Mrs Tepo, she now also bore the title of Administrative Secretary at Cameroon Insurance Company Ltd. As her first month of work ended, she started falling into constant bouts of edginess whenever she heard her colleagues discussing payday and Christmas. How was she going to share out her pay? Tradition stated that a child’s first salary had to go to her parents for blessings. The situation was complex for a child like her who had several parents, several people who had helped her climb the ladder. To demonstrate to her children what it means to have a mother with purchasing power – that was her intended Christmas gift to her children. But how could she fulfil it when her December salary was also her first? One hundred and twenty thousand Francs was much money for a woman who had never before had a dime to her name. Yet with a household of seven occupants, an out-station husband, a deserving aunt and her family, and a polygamous family back in the village, the sum ended up providing solutions to just a tithe of the problems looking up it. As a way out, she decided to remit her entire pay to her parents and then borrow from the Nchumuluh njangi to meet other needs. Part of the money from the njangi, she divided into three envelopes: one for her husband in appreciation for his support, one for Aunty Angela and Uncle Polyandrew, and the other for Mozart, her favourite brother. The balance was for her children – to buy Christmas clothes and gifts and prepare some delicacies. All said and done, it felt good...