An old woman sat under a tree, leaning her back against it while gently stroking the hair of a young girl lying on her lap.
The girl, who could not be older than 20, lay as if she were sleeping, but was suddenly startled when she heard the woman sobbing. She quickly sat up and asked in alarm,
“Umma, are you okay? What happened to you?”
Through her tears, the old woman replied,
“Ayush, I want you to help me seek God's forgiveness. I have made a terrible mistake in my life, and I can feel it in my bones—I am going to die. Ayush! I will die without seeking Junaid's forgiveness!”
At that moment, she burst into heart-wrenching sobs.
“Uma, please stop crying. I don't like seeing you like this,” Ayush pleaded. “Who is this Junaid? And what did you do to him that makes you speak such painful words about yourself?”
Tears streamed down Ayush’s face as she insisted, “Uma, if you don’t tell me what’s in your heart, how can I pray for you when I don’t even know the sin you committed?”
Uma clenched her lips in frustration and looked at Ayush, who was also staring back at her.
“Ayush, I hate myself. If you hear my story, you will hate me too. But I will tell you… Only, please forgive me first,” she said, looking at Ayush with sorrow.
Surprise crossed Ayush’s face as she softly replied, “Me? Uma, I know you have done nothing to me. Whatever you did, I am sure love was at its core. You could never hurt me, my dear mother. So, I forgive you, in this world and the hereafter.”
Uma let out a bitter smile, her voice choked as she said,
“Ayush, my life is worthless now. I am ready to die. But I pity you because I don’t know what will become of you once I’m gone. Ayush, I have no relatives, no one at all. People avoid me because I have done terrible things. That’s why my sins have stained you as well—everyone despises us.”
She pointed to a small hut in the distance and continued,
“You see that place? That is our home. We have lived in this forest since you were a baby! You have often asked me, 'Where is my father? Who are my relatives?' But I never answered you because I was afraid you would abandon me. But now, I am ready to face the truth.”
She took a deep breath and in a trembling voice said, "Ayush."
In a soft voice, Ayush replied, "Yes, Uma, I am listening."* Her face was wet with tears, her fair skin now red from crying.
Uma continued, “I want to see you get married and have children, Ayush. You have a kind heart, full of compassion. I don’t want you to inherit even a speck of my character, and certainly not your father’s. Curse our ways!”
She broke down in sobs again.
Ayush also wept, embracing Uma and rubbing her back, comforting her with a soothing voice, “Uma, if this story only makes you cry, then don’t tell it. I don’t want anything that causes you pain, my dear mother. I love you so much.”
Uma gently pulled away, wiped her tears, and said,
"No, Ayush. If I don’t get this off my chest, I will never find peace. I will tell you who I really am."
She paused, then began, “First, my name is Agatha. I am not a Muslim. I am originally from Ghana. I lost my parents in a car accident, and I had no relatives to care for me. Because of a lack of family connections, I never knew if I had any extended relatives. My father was a Christian, while my mother was a Muslim, but he forced her to convert to Christianity. This caused a deep rift between her and her family, so I grew up completely alone.”
“With no one to support me, I fell into prostitution—it was how I fed, clothed, and sheltered myself.”
“While living that life, I met a wealthy man who changed my fate. He helped me, gave me a new life, and introduced me to Islam. Through him, I converted to Islam and changed my name to Bara'atu.”
“He was Nigerian, but he had come to Ghana for business. I spent nearly a year with him, yet he never touched me. I tried everything to seduce him, but he always refused. The more he rejected me, the more obsessed I became with him.”
“He took care of all my needs—money, food, everything. One day, as he was sitting and going through his accounts, I decided I would confess my love to him and ask him to marry me. But after I told him, he didn’t get angry, yet he still refused to marry me.”
“Do you know what he said to me?” she asked Ayush.
Ayush shook her head, staring at her mother in shock.
“He told me he already had a wife and a son back in Nigeria. He said he didn’t want to marry another woman because he feared it would bring problems into his family. He even said that if I wanted, I could come live in his house—but only as a maid to his wife!”
Ayush’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“At that moment, I swore to myself that I would destroy his marriage. I loved him so much, and I was determined to find a way to make him mine. I followed him back to Nigeria, where he introduced me to his wife, Doctor Fateemah—a kind woman, gentle and peaceful. She had a son named Junaid, who was just ten years old at the time.”
“Alhaji did not hide anything from his wife about how we met. However, he didn’t tell her that I was in love with him. I began working as a housemaid, receiving a salary every month.”
Uma paused, lost in thought, before giving a bitter smile.
“It was then that I sought out a powerful sorcerer through a wicked friend of mine. She and I traveled far to find him. The place was dangerous—only those with strong will dared enter.”
*"When we finally found the sorcerer, he laughed in a disturbing way and told me that I could have Alhaji, but only if I gave him three things:
1. 100,000 Ghanaian cedis.
2. The blood of a young boy.
3. My own body—he wanted to sleep with me."
"I agreed to everything because I was desperate to have Alhaji. But the first requirement—getting the money—was the hardest. After we left the forest, my friend and I stayed in a hotel. She then told me something that shocked me—she said she could give me the money for free, but I had to give her something in return."
“I asked her what she wanted, and she told me she wanted me.”
“That was when I realized she was a lesbian.”
“I didn’t show any reaction. Instead, I simply told her that I agreed. If I was willing to give my body to an old sorcerer, what was my friend in comparison?”
