Diaries of Hephzibah | Part 1
Wonderful Story of Grace, This is my story...
I was born over five decades ago in a city called Ibadan. Ibadan is the second-largest city in Africa. My parents got wedded in London, England and had three boys around East London before they moved to Nigeria. The third boy I gathered passed after being ill and then I arrived. I won the race against millions of other boys and girls making a grand appearance into this world in August which means I am a Summer girl💃💃💃.
I was with my parents for probably the first two to three years of my life before they both parted ways which resulted in my having to spend the rest of my childhood days with foster parents (my mom's uncle and his wife). I found myself in a situation which was definitely a 'survival of the fittest' type of thing. Anyway, I survived psychological, physical, emotional abuse including differential treatment, starvation, etc. I also suffered from sexual abuse. This all happened before I turned ten years old.
It definitely was a vulnerable situation I found myself. I know it was God's grace and His plan for my life that must have preserved me through those years.
Because of my blood type I was susceptible to malaria. I had malaria every other month. I would have a very high fever and excruciating headaches. Most of those times I would be lying down in a corner for hours and no one would notice. I convulsed a thousand times over those years... I should have died a thousand times but for the grace of God.
In everything, I give thanks for some of the good memories of me being in the choir at a tender age. Each time I went to choir practice or go to church, I felt an invisible being speaking to me, letting me know that all will be fine. The hymns were very comforting and I sang a lot from the hymn book. I also loved reading because it took me to fantasyland and I would dream of a world that was far from what I was experiencing. I was a lonely child generally and did not quite understand why my daddy and my mummy would take me so far away from them and I began to think it was my fault...
Now I know it was all part of God's design for my life. That was how it was meant to be. God allowed it for a reason. It had to be that way. Today, I feel genuine empathy for children from broken marriages. You have to have experienced it to know the pain...
To be continued...
Olayinka Hephzibah Ekenkwo
