Life In Lagos; The Life Of A Esther The Pepper Seller

My Name is Esther, I live in Shogunle, Oshodi in Lagos state. I am a 15-year-old girl who dropped out of secondary school because my mom could not afford my tuition anymore.

You ask about my Dad, he died when I was 3 years old. My father was a security for a commercial bank in Ikeja, the capital city of Lagos state. It was a horrible event when my mom heard about the dismiss of my Dad. He was hit by stray bullet during a robbery attack at the bank.

My Mother since then have been a single mother, trying her best to take care of every of our need even though she is a petty trader who sells pepper.

Living hasn't been funny since our landlord evicted us from the house. We started staying in mothers shop she was sharing with three other women. I will go out to hawk pepper in the morning, come back to the shop to sleep at noon and then go to hawk around 3:30 PM to arrive at 6:00 PM, nothing more or less. If I come back a little late, my mother will be so worried to her heartbeat.

Daily, we make #250 both from what my mother sells and from what I sell to support. We use 100 to prepare the meal we will eat, of which sometimes we will have to postpone cooking so we can gather a tangible amount to prepare the meal.

At night, I sit down by the road to view the cars that ply the road having this strong belief that all will be well. As much as the faith was strong, things become worse when there is a heavy downpour of rain as the roofing of the shop where we lay our head is leaking.

When there is no rain, we already believe that there is no sleep. We will spend all night parking out water from the shop. Every drop of water from the roof always kill my spirit making me shed tears.

This is what I pass through daily hoping that one day, I will be able to go to school again, and have a bright future.

I LOVE TO BE EDUCATED, I HOPE ONE DAY, I AND MY MUM WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE UP ENOUGH SO WE CAN BUILD OR BUY OUR HOUSE.

This is "Life in Lagos".... Stayed tuned for o=subsequent editions.

Image source 1, Image source 2, image source 3

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