AMAZING GRANDMOTHER

Well, I read this interview in Sun newspaper and i think i should share it with my friends. READ ON.

At 106, Madam Susan Adirije could pass for one of the oldest women in Nigeria. She has wrinkles all over her face. Her voice is faint. However, she looks strong.

The great grand ma has seen life and the vicissitude of it. She has seen the good, the bad and the ugly part of life. However, she has one regret: Her quest for beauty at a jet age seems to be making her old age unbearable. She confessed giving herself marks while trying to sharpen her beauty.

Ma Adirije applies her make up herself. She ensures that the olive oil that is being applied on her body glitters. It takes her one hour to dress up. This is not because of her age. It is because of the time she devotes to make herself beautiful.

She thrilled Saturday Sun with the stories of her life in stone age till date. Born and married in Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, Ma Adirije had travelled far around Nigeria. She spent most part of her life in Calabar, in Cross River State and Uyo, in Akwa Ibom State, where she managed one of the finest restaurants.
Upon her husband’s retirement, she returned to her village.

Fashion then
Unlike other women of their age grade, Ma Adirije got married at the age of 30, which she said was very early.
She said: “I got married at the age of 30, which was of course, very early. Nobody could force me to get married. I was seriously choosy, as a very beautiful girl. I enjoyed my jet age so much because I was one of those girls who had the best set of breasts. Then young girls are meant to move about naked with a piece of cloth covering their private part. It was a thing of joy to showcase your body, most especially if you have a beautiful one.

“After the day’s work in the farm, you will go and have your bath. Then as one of the reigning girls in my village I had beautiful marks on my body. That is what they call tattoo today, which is weird. Then, with the aid of a sharp iron, you would carve different shapes on your body, especially on the breasts. There is a leaf in the forest, which would be squeezed, and the water extracted from it would be applied on the fresh wounds.

“Days later, when the wound heals the mark would remain there with a green colour. With firm breasts and the marks well designed, you will apply coconut oil, after having your bath. Now glittering, we would go to the village square to dance and entice the young men. I continued like that because I was beautiful; that was why I rejected all kinds of men who I felt were not up to my standard.”

When mama’s father could not force her to get married, her uncle came up with a game plan.
She continued: “My uncle arranged with my parents and lured me to Calabar, with the excuse that I was going for a better life. He kept me in a man’s house and disappeared with the excuse that I was to learn work through him. It was when my uncle left that I got to know that I had been married to the man and was on a visiting tour. My dear, I had no choice, considering the fact that he was the type of man I always dreamt of. Months later I returned home for the traditional rites.

“Those days it was your uncle’s responsibility to ensure that you got married. Normally, you are expected to pay 20 pounds, four ugbah and four heads of coconut. My late husband had to cough out much more money to have my hand in marriage. Just like in the days of Jacob, any prospective in-law is expected to serve the family he intends to marry for a period of six months, unlike today, a man would wake up one day and decided to abduct one girl and force the parents to accept him or he would disappear with the daughter.

Childbirth was like urinating
Her story of childbirth is equally thrilling.
She said: “Those days, childbirth was fun; it could be in the farm, depending on where you were when you went into labour. It was as easy as urinating. The most disturbing part of all my births was that of my last child, whose face the nurses wanted to tear. I was actually in the farm when I entered labour; so I decided to deliver the child in the hospital since civilization insists that it was the best. But when I got there, the midwife was busy dragging her out, as if she was pulling a rope. I was so scared of what the baby looked like after such stress that I had to escape from the hospital.

When I got home, people asked me where my child was. I told them that I gave birth to a masquerade and therefore I decided to give it to the midwife to keep. Alarmed, my mother in-law had to go back to the clinic, where I left my daughter. Today, she is the prettiest of the all my children. Then I spaced my children through breast-feeding. Once I stopped breast-feeding my child for three years, I would have another child; so there was no need for abortion.

My regrets at this age
Of course, Ma Adirije has one regret.
She revealed: “It is good to be old, most especially when you have people to take care of you. The only regret I have is the effect of the carves that I did on my breast. Those marks have turned into a deep scar that is tearing me apart. Then I was catching my fun, but now I know better. If I had known that this would be the aftermath I would have got married at the age 15.

That is why I always advise my grand and great grand children to be wary of fashion and the ills that go with it. “At my age I commune with the dead, most especially my late husband. He is one of the reasons I am still alive. I always beg him to allow me go with him, but he would simply tell me that the time is not ripe yet. I am blessed to have good children who cater for me.”