Joel Solomon Tekenate

The Initiation into Motherhood Joel Solomon Tekenate

The cold hands of death continue to snatch the children of Ebisu few days after birth. Her husband, Peretu, decided to marry two more wives in the same year after the death of the sixth child. Nevertheless, that same year he married the two wives, Ebisu gave birth to another child and the concerned midwife resorted to the old tradition of throwing ogbanje children in garbage dumps after birth. The cry of the abandoned baby attracted Timi to the garbage dump. She saw the child, dropped some money at the place she found her, took her home before taking her to her mother. Fortunately, the newborn child, Tarila, was saved from the stealthy hands of death. Several years later, Ebisu's grandson, Kemekepere, was at the point of death for eating the leaves of a herb. Hence, her daughter, Tarila, was faced with the dilemma of saving her child as the gods instructed that she should go to the cave of the evil forest and get the antidote.