. . (Surviving against all odds):
Chioma is a young girl from Nkanu west LGA of Enugu state in South east Nigeria.
She lost her father when she was barely 2years of age and her mother was the only Family she ever knew.
Growing up with only her mother has never been easy.
Chioma kept the memory of her Father alive by holding tight to the only picture of her father she had; a picture she so much wished she could atleast remember the memories of that day. Chioma's father was carrying 2weeks year old Chioma on his arms with a big smile he wore on his face.
"It is said that a picture says a thousand words" and no doubt, Chioma could feel that her father was very happy having her even though life was never easy for him and Amarachi, his wife.
Coming from South East part of Nigeria, it was almost impossible for Amarachi to get another husband because many people viewed widows or divorcee's as "second hand".
Amarachi was an unemployed single mother in her mid 30's who can barely afford to take good care of herself or daughter's financial and basic needs. Inother to survive the harsh economic situations in the state, Amarachi started selling "ugu leafs" in the market while her daughter hawked sarchet water on the street of Enugu city.
For Chioma, she drew most of her strength from her mother; a strong woman who overcame the horror's life threw at her and made sure she and Chioma survived the challenges of life.
Chioma promised herself that she would not disappoint her mother and she always believed that unlike her mother who led a poverty stricken life, she would fight hard to have a much better life as an independent working class lady. She believes that that even though her society feels that Men should lead in all aspect which includes taking care of the children and wife, Chioma promised herself that she would not follow the trend of being a house wife or being restricted to just a market woman, she so much fears being caught in the type of poverty life her mother led.
At age 15, Chioma had started making plans on how she can live a better life, all her life experience had forced her to forfeit her usual childhood fun period, she made a vow never to be used or deceived by men who use money to lure young girls to them.
As years pass by, life challenges became worse for Chioma and her mother; keeping up with feeding, school fee's and house rent was becoming unbearable and sometimes impossible. Amarachi got married at age 30, she was the only Child of her parent and she did not have close relationship with her distance relations.
Amarachi lost her parents 1 year after her marriage to car accident and she lost her husband 2years later to illness.
As their struggles continue, Amarachi became increasingly unable to pay for her house rent and this led to them being thrown out of the house by the landlord. Chioma was 17years old then, and she had to manage the one room self contain apartment at Onu Asata in Enugu state.
Amarachi usually try hard to save the house rent before the due date for renewal but this time, she was unable to pay for it because she used her savings to pay for Chioma's WAEC examination, she felt that if she paid for the waec, she could come up with the house rent before the exert due date for payment.
Chioma promised herself never to do anything bad or sexual to get money but she could no longer watch as her mother suffer.
The desperation of trying to raise money for her mothers house rent pushed Chioma to have sex with a chief who had long been disturbing her, that day was a day she dubbed as "unforgetable day", a day she lost her virginity. That night Chioma cried her way.
As time pass by, Amarachi kept struggling to pay and feed herself and only daughter until Chioma got admitted to Enugu state university of technology(ESUT) where she was to study business administration.
Chioma's dream was to be a top fashion designer in Nigeria and beyond and after she entered university, she started to learn how to sew different type of female clothings with her mother's friend.
After learning how to sew for some months, Chioma decides to start sewing inother to earn money to assist herself and mother, she believed in "thinking outside the box" and this made her look for customers beyond her immediate environment.
Chioma had no money to buy her own sewing equipment or rent a place so she simply sketch her beautiful designs on her sketching book and she showed it to her friends and classmates incase any of them wanted her to sew for them, those who found her designs very beautiful and wanted the type of cloth would pay half of the money she charged for the cloth, and then she would use the money to buy the material for the sewing and then goes to her mother's friends shop to sew at night.
Chioma combined her studies with sewing cloths and as time pass by, she was able to raise money to rent her own place and purchase her own sewing machines. Chioma's mother was very proud of the girl her daughter was becoming.
At 18years of age, Chioma lost her mother who died in her sleep. The news of her mother's death left her devastated, she felt lost and all alone in the world, she sometimes feel as if maybe she was cursed and perhaps it would be best to take her own life and leave a world that had constantly been unfair to her and left her in pains.
After her mother's burial, Chioma stayed out of school for a month, she locked herself up alone in her room, switched off her phone and constantly cried for days.
Losing her mother and the only family she had left Chioma is emotional shambles. Anytime she remembers the struggles she went through with her mother, tears would start rolling down her eyes. Chioma believed she was destined for great things but she was heart broken that none of her parents would be around to enjoy with her when she achieves her dreams.
When Chioma felt better after a month, she returned to school, she continued with her sewing and academic work, she had attracted many customers among the female students of her school and their friends who would see the cloths they are wearing and would want to get similar. Chioma's fashion designs were amazing, unique and beautiful, she sewed and designed native, english and Arab wears.
At 19years of age, chioma had gotten to her 300level in her university, she now feels more confident to push her clothing work further, she believes that just sewing for her schoolmates and their friends on demand was not going to help her achieve her dreams of being well known fashion designer beyond her locality. Chioma then decides to promote her self and clothing works through social network platform, she opened her own fashion page of Facebook where she posted only pictures of her designs, she also used the blackberry broadcast and whatsapp, this made her popular not just beyond her school but Enugu state.
Those who see her designs on social netwoork always like it and some would call to order for the cloths, they would simply send over their body measurement and Chioma would send the cloths to them after 2weeks, payments are usually made on delivery.
Chioma continued to engage in her fashion business while she also pushes hard in school to graduate with good grades.
Chioma's Business was slowly making headways in the Nigerian fashion world, every big girl in the country wass talking about her cloth, Nigerian celebrities also wore her cloths, she also got calls from rich Muslim women at Abuja, Kano and Kaduna to send them her Arab clothing she sewed.
At 19years, things was slowly starting to turn out well for her, she opened her own fashion shop and showroom in Enugu city, she named her clothing line after her name, she called them Chioma's collections, she was slowly achieving her dreams and at a young age. The trials she went through in life did not stop her from achieving her dreams.
One day Chioma was eating at a resturant in Enugu city and sitting in the other table right in front of her was a young, handsome fair in complexion boy in his mid 20's. To Chioma, it felt like love at first sight and all she was hoping was for the boy to approach her and ask her out. Chioma at some point felt that if the boy did not approach her, she might go close and offer to be friends with him but luckily for Chioma, the boy noticed a pretty girl sitting all alone, he approached her and asked her out.
The event of that day ignited a strong relationship between the two that went of for months and with Chioma's fashion business gaining momentum nation wide, her academics going well, Chioma felt like the happiest girl on earth.
After months of dating, mike proposed to Chioma on the day of her graduation, something Chioma felt was the best gift she can ever wish for.
That particular day as Chioma and mike was driving home in Mike's car, they had an accident. An accident which left Chioma fighting for her life in a comma while Mike was lucky to survive with a fractured arm.
Mike blamed himself for Chioma's condition; watching her lie on the hospital bed helplessly left him very emotionally devastated.
Mike lost lost hope that Chioma would survive the comma due to her terrible state yet he never stopped loving and visiting her everyday.
Mike got a call one evening from the hospital requesting his immediate attention, devastated as he was, he rushed to the hospital, he felt that chioma had finally lost her life. When he walked into Nadia's room in the hospital, he saw the bed empty and neatly dressed, a tear slowly fell down his eyes and at that point, he knew his fears had become a reality.
Mike immediately went to the doctors looking sad, the doctor asked him to seat down.
"I am sorry, we had to move her" , the doctor said but mike immediately interrupted and asked where they moved his fiancee's body.
The doctor told mike that Nadia woke up since yesterday night and they had been trying his number but it did not go through till in the evening.
Mike could not believe what he was hearing, he immediately asked to be taken to Chioma. When they arrived at where Chioma was, Mike could not shield his emotions anymore, a tear came down his eyes, it was a joyous day was him. Mike went over and hugged Chioma tightly, she started shedding tear of joys as she always held him tight too.
2weeks after getting out of hospital, chioma could not wait to get back to her work, her manager had been taking very good care of business while she was at the hospital, she had signed several contracts with major shop outlets and Chioma was also invited to Paris to partake in the Paris fashion week.
After all her struggles and pain, the determination to succeed kept Chioma going, her only sorrows was that her parents and especially mother was not alive to see the type of girl and achievement she had.
A story of pain, and strong determination in the face of uncertainty and challenges.
Chioma is a young girl from Nkanu west LGA of Enugu state in South east Nigeria.
She lost her father when she was barely 2years of age and her mother was the only Family she ever knew.
Growing up with only her mother has never been easy.
Chioma kept the memory of her Father alive by holding tight to the only picture of her father she had; a picture she so much wished she could atleast remember the memories of that day. Chioma's father was carrying 2weeks year old Chioma on his arms with a big smile he wore on his face.
"It is said that a picture says a thousand words" and no doubt, Chioma could feel that her father was very happy having her even though life was never easy for him and Amarachi, his wife.
Coming from South East part of Nigeria, it was almost impossible for Amarachi to get another husband because many people viewed widows or divorcee's as "second hand".
Amarachi was an unemployed single mother in her mid 30's who can barely afford to take good care of herself or daughter's financial and basic needs. Inother to survive the harsh economic situations in the state, Amarachi started selling "ugu leafs" in the market while her daughter hawked sarchet water on the street of Enugu city.
For Chioma, she drew most of her strength from her mother; a strong woman who overcame the horror's life threw at her and made sure she and Chioma survived the challenges of life.
Chioma promised herself that she would not disappoint her mother and she always believed that unlike her mother who led a poverty stricken life, she would fight hard to have a much better life as an independent working class lady. She believes that that even though her society feels that Men should lead in all aspect which includes taking care of the children and wife, Chioma promised herself that she would not follow the trend of being a house wife or being restricted to just a market woman, she so much fears being caught in the type of poverty life her mother led.
At age 15, Chioma had started making plans on how she can live a better life, all her life experience had forced her to forfeit her usual childhood fun period, she made a vow never to be used or deceived by men who use money to lure young girls to them.
As years pass by, life challenges became worse for Chioma and her mother; keeping up with feeding, school fee's and house rent was becoming unbearable and sometimes impossible. Amarachi got married at age 30, she was the only Child of her parent and she did not have close relationship with her distance relations.
Amarachi lost her parents 1 year after her marriage to car accident and she lost her husband 2years later to illness.
As their struggles continue, Amarachi became increasingly unable to pay for her house rent and this led to them being thrown out of the house by the landlord. Chioma was 17years old then, and she had to manage the one room self contain apartment at Onu Asata in Enugu state.
Amarachi usually try hard to save the house rent before the due date for renewal but this time, she was unable to pay for it because she used her savings to pay for Chioma's WAEC examination, she felt that if she paid for the waec, she could come up with the house rent before the exert due date for payment.
Chioma promised herself never to do anything bad or sexual to get money but she could no longer watch as her mother suffer.
The desperation of trying to raise money for her mothers house rent pushed Chioma to have sex with a chief who had long been disturbing her, that day was a day she dubbed as "unforgetable day", a day she lost her virginity. That night Chioma cried her way.
As time pass by, Amarachi kept struggling to pay and feed herself and only daughter until Chioma got admitted to Enugu state university of technology(ESUT) where she was to study business administration.
Chioma's dream was to be a top fashion designer in Nigeria and beyond and after she entered university, she started to learn how to sew different type of female clothings with her mother's friend.
After learning how to sew for some months, Chioma decides to start sewing inother to earn money to assist herself and mother, she believed in "thinking outside the box" and this made her look for customers beyond her immediate environment.
Chioma had no money to buy her own sewing equipment or rent a place so she simply sketch her beautiful designs on her sketching book and she showed it to her friends and classmates incase any of them wanted her to sew for them, those who found her designs very beautiful and wanted the type of cloth would pay half of the money she charged for the cloth, and then she would use the money to buy the material for the sewing and then goes to her mother's friends shop to sew at night.
Chioma combined her studies with sewing cloths and as time pass by, she was able to raise money to rent her own place and purchase her own sewing machines. Chioma's mother was very proud of the girl her daughter was becoming.
At 18years of age, Chioma lost her mother who died in her sleep. The news of her mother's death left her devastated, she felt lost and all alone in the world, she sometimes feel as if maybe she was cursed and perhaps it would be best to take her own life and leave a world that had constantly been unfair to her and left her in pains.
After her mother's burial, Chioma stayed out of school for a month, she locked herself up alone in her room, switched off her phone and constantly cried for days.
Losing her mother and the only family she had left Chioma is emotional shambles. Anytime she remembers the struggles she went through with her mother, tears would start rolling down her eyes. Chioma believed she was destined for great things but she was heart broken that none of her parents would be around to enjoy with her when she achieves her dreams.
When Chioma felt better after a month, she returned to school, she continued with her sewing and academic work, she had attracted many customers among the female students of her school and their friends who would see the cloths they are wearing and would want to get similar. Chioma's fashion designs were amazing, unique and beautiful, she sewed and designed native, english and Arab wears.
At 19years of age, chioma had gotten to her 300level in her university, she now feels more confident to push her clothing work further, she believes that just sewing for her schoolmates and their friends on demand was not going to help her achieve her dreams of being well known fashion designer beyond her locality. Chioma then decides to promote her self and clothing works through social network platform, she opened her own fashion page of Facebook where she posted only pictures of her designs, she also used the blackberry broadcast and whatsapp, this made her popular not just beyond her school but Enugu state.
Those who see her designs on social netwoork always like it and some would call to order for the cloths, they would simply send over their body measurement and Chioma would send the cloths to them after 2weeks, payments are usually made on delivery.
Chioma continued to engage in her fashion business while she also pushes hard in school to graduate with good grades.
Chioma's Business was slowly making headways in the Nigerian fashion world, every big girl in the country wass talking about her cloth, Nigerian celebrities also wore her cloths, she also got calls from rich Muslim women at Abuja, Kano and Kaduna to send them her Arab clothing she sewed.
At 19years, things was slowly starting to turn out well for her, she opened her own fashion shop and showroom in Enugu city, she named her clothing line after her name, she called them Chioma's collections, she was slowly achieving her dreams and at a young age. The trials she went through in life did not stop her from achieving her dreams.
One day Chioma was eating at a resturant in Enugu city and sitting in the other table right in front of her was a young, handsome fair in complexion boy in his mid 20's. To Chioma, it felt like love at first sight and all she was hoping was for the boy to approach her and ask her out. Chioma at some point felt that if the boy did not approach her, she might go close and offer to be friends with him but luckily for Chioma, the boy noticed a pretty girl sitting all alone, he approached her and asked her out.
The event of that day ignited a strong relationship between the two that went of for months and with Chioma's fashion business gaining momentum nation wide, her academics going well, Chioma felt like the happiest girl on earth.
After months of dating, mike proposed to Chioma on the day of her graduation, something Chioma felt was the best gift she can ever wish for.
That particular day as Chioma and mike was driving home in Mike's car, they had an accident. An accident which left Chioma fighting for her life in a comma while Mike was lucky to survive with a fractured arm.
Mike blamed himself for Chioma's condition; watching her lie on the hospital bed helplessly left him very emotionally devastated.
Mike lost lost hope that Chioma would survive the comma due to her terrible state yet he never stopped loving and visiting her everyday.
Mike got a call one evening from the hospital requesting his immediate attention, devastated as he was, he rushed to the hospital, he felt that chioma had finally lost her life. When he walked into Nadia's room in the hospital, he saw the bed empty and neatly dressed, a tear slowly fell down his eyes and at that point, he knew his fears had become a reality.
Mike immediately went to the doctors looking sad, the doctor asked him to seat down.
"I am sorry, we had to move her" , the doctor said but mike immediately interrupted and asked where they moved his fiancee's body.
The doctor told mike that Nadia woke up since yesterday night and they had been trying his number but it did not go through till in the evening.
Mike could not believe what he was hearing, he immediately asked to be taken to Chioma. When they arrived at where Chioma was, Mike could not shield his emotions anymore, a tear came down his eyes, it was a joyous day was him. Mike went over and hugged Chioma tightly, she started shedding tear of joys as she always held him tight too.
2weeks after getting out of hospital, chioma could not wait to get back to her work, her manager had been taking very good care of business while she was at the hospital, she had signed several contracts with major shop outlets and Chioma was also invited to Paris to partake in the Paris fashion week.
After all her struggles and pain, the determination to succeed kept Chioma going, her only sorrows was that her parents and especially mother was not alive to see the type of girl and achievement she had.
A story of pain, and strong determination in the face of uncertainty and challenges.
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