Prisoners of Lust

Four

Sadly, rural women know nothing of their rights.  Inna's mother was forced to leave the house and leave her children behind.  Under the negligence of their father and stepmother, Inna's sisters started selling fruits they picked from trees. They skillfully balanced trays on their heads and went house-to-house, chanting short rhymes to sell their provisions.  They also applied eye kohl and lipstick to appear attractive to buyers. Sadly, that was not all they attracted. It was common knowledge that perverse men coerced young hawkers into losing their innocence or they ravaged them against their will.

Inna's only brother was sent off as an almajiri student, a corrupted informal system of education in which boys as young as five years old were sent out of town to live with who are supposed to be teachers. In the mornings, the boys beg for alms and in the evening, their supposed teachers take the money.  When Inna heard about her brother's fate, she left the house she worked in as a cleaner to look for him.

Inna found her brother in a city far away from the village.  A cousin told her where she would find him.  He had shrunk in size and developed a skin infection all over his head and back.  He hugged her so tight and begged her to take him back home.  She cried as she tried to rub off the dirt on his torn shirt and shorts.  His feet were cracked, his nails were dirty, and he had sores around his neck and chest.

Inna's brother told her that they worked on a farm that belonged to the man in charge of them.  When the lands were ready for farming, the boys to tilled the land, planted seeds, and harvested the crops.  Yet they starved while they listened to their teacher in the morning for a few minutes, they starved as they walked in the heat or cold begging for hours, and they starved in the evening in front of their teacher for a few minutes.

Inna asked her little brother if any of their teachers took him to a chemist for medicine.  He shook his head side to side.  "Did they at least give you traditional herbs for this sore?" she asked.  "I just want to go home, Yaya," he said.  He cried as he told Inna about his friend who was bitten by a snake and another friend who slashed his foot with a cutlass.  Both of them died.  The first friend did not survive the night, and the second friend spent days clenching his teeth and arching his back, until his frail body gave up.  "So you can see that these...," he said rubbing his flaky skin, "... it is not their concern."

When Inna took her brother back home, she confronted her father.  "How can you turn away from your responsibility?"  She warned him that the streets would turn her siblings into stonehearted people. "They should be in school.  I send money solely for their schooling."  She asked her father to sell the fruits himself. After all, he sat home all day doing nothing but pretending to be a spiritual medicine man.

Inna cautioned her stepmother that the same unfortunate fate might befall her only child if she continued to mistreat her stepchildren.  The cunning woman cried frantically, accusing Inna of plotting to kill her child.  She wailed and called out to the neighbors that Inna used charms and spirits to make her barren.  Inna's father disowned her for upsetting his wife and asked her to leave the house.

Inna decided to go to her father's brother who lived in the same underdeveloped village.  As soon as she finished narrating her predicament, her uncle said he would try to reconcile them.  He had two wives, nine children, and his home had two rooms.  He did not have enough rooms to take in another person, nor did he have the resources to feed an extra mouth.  Already he struggled to feed his family, and three of his children spent nights in an accommodation where children from overcrowded homes stay.

After days of unsuccessful reconciliatory talks, her uncle, reluctant to bear any burden, decided to marry her off, against her will, to a drunkard.  Inna never enjoyed a full hour of marriage.  Her husband was a violent man who would come home reeking of alcohol.  The first time he hit her, she curled up protecting her face.  The next time he raised his hands, she smashed a small table to his side, and ran to her uncle's house.

The following day, her uncle sent her back to her horror and cautioned her about provoking the drunk man.  Ever since, she bolted the door to her room every night, fearing that he would pound her to a pulp.  Some nights he would break down the door and clumsily throw himself at her.  Inna's horrible experience made her find alcohol repulsive, and she never drank it even when among company who did.

As she slept in fear every night, she lived in fear during the day too.  Her husband's bad habits left him wretched and broke.  Yet no one thought it fit to take her away from her misery.  She lost weight, fell sick often, and seemed withdrawn.  She wondered why her life was void of love and happiness.  After a year of terror and negligence, Inna took money from his wallet to buy food. When he found out, he bribed a policeman to take her away and lock her up.