Saved by the unborn from the hangman’s noose
Have you ever found your mind wandering away from the usual thoughts about this life’s stresses and strains and into the intricacies of this world? As I near my last trimester, I have found myself in this predicament many times. More often than not, my mind has been divorced from my physical body —literally.
The other day, I found myself in such a position, albeit without any action or thought on my part. There I was having Susie doing a pedicure on my now oversized but nonetheless beautiful feet — and the next minute I was in a world of my own.
In my world, I found myself in a laughing stupor— laughing hilariously at a scene in retrospect that I saw, I believe some three years ago. My big brother recently brought home his first girlfriend ever — a contrast from my small and even my little brother who has been having an entourage over the last few years.
The girlfriend is not only from different heritage and culture but also from a different race. So, this being her first time out of Europe and into the jungle that Africa is thought to be, she was pleasantly surprised. There was my mom who kept asking my brother if the ‘white’ girl would even manage to cook his breakfast, let alone lunch.
I think her thoughts were coming from the realization that her three sons have insatiable appetites — what with the fact that the trio is professional rugby players here and abroad! Anyway, the girl would not have cared what her future mother-in-law was saying.
She had spent her entire morning looking at videos of Tebogo, my son, and wondering how it is that I am pregnant before the boy joins school! She was in tears all the while saying how handsome Tebs is and declaring that she wants a baby now. That stopped the boy and her mother who were busy chatting away about issues development. “Baby? Who wants a baby?” A growling voice emanating from the direction of one son and mother cuts short our discussion.
My brother loves children but he has taken it pretty personally that I had two children, spaced too closely knowing my son was birthed by Caesarian section and now here I was, pregnant!
His tete-a-tete sessions prior to bringing his girlfriend home indicated that she has a phobia of looking fat, which in a majority of pregnancies is almost always expected. But now that she had stated she wanted a baby, he was surprised, considering that in the African traditional society, it is through a child that a woman’s marriage is validated. This makes pregnancy a thing to be most proud of and the birthing of the child is what really puts the jigsaw of marriage together.
As the world celebrates mothers, I remember a mother who survived the hangman’s noose on account that she was pregnant. That was way back in 2008 when High Court judge Msagha Mbogholi had to hold his death sentence on one Anne Rose Ngonyo who was six months pregnant.
And because she was carrying life, it made sense for Justice Mbogholi to hand her down a life sentence instead. For being pregnant, Ngonyo literally saved her life as her two co-accused headed to the gallows for the murder of one Lawrence Magondu in a land deal gone sour.
But the judge was left wondering how a woman, who had spent two years in custody, got pregnant while in custody. Ngonyo gave birth to her child behind bars.
END: BL 42 / 48