Please see post 1 here
“Mmmmm…I think there are still good ones” said a trader. “Maybe, that will suffer with you and understand…even help you.” Then he scrunched up his face as if contemplating what he had said for a moment. I was temporarily distracted by my phone and by the time I returned my attention to him, he had started shaking his head vigorously. “No…no…these days, women like money. They like it more than anything.”
There went my ray of light. Disappointed, I turned to the occupant of the stall next to his. This one didn’t even let me ask the question before responding.
“They are like cats, they just want to take fine things…gold …clothes…hair…shoes….”
“Credit,” interjected his friend playfully.
“Credit?” I asked incredulously.”Telephone recharge?”
“Look at you! That is how we know them!”
“Send me credit,” one mimicked a woman’s voice. “Buy me phone, my phone got spoiled.” “It fell inside the water…”
I’m not comfortable with generalization, especially when it has to do with my fellow women. It seems every guy assumes a woman is after him for money. Don’t women have jobs as well? Aren’t some women richer than men even? What has made men believe so strongly that women love only money these days?
Determined not to be defeated, I asked, “but women get married every Saturday. Are you saying that it is only rich young men who are able to find wives? Or how do women pick the ones that they settle down with?”
“Ha!” they all shouted in unison, bursting into laughter.
Holding his ribs, one beckoned and I moved closer. “Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Olowo gba’yawo Olosi” this translates to “the rich man snatches the poor man’s wife.”
Comprehension dawned. I had actually heard that proverb or whatever it is several times in Ebenezer Obey’s songs. I must have heard one or two of such stories where a woman abandons her poor husband and children to start a new family with a wealthy man who oftentimes is already married to several other women. I had never really paid attention to the stories as they didn’t sound very plausible at the time. Could it be that this impression is as a result of decades of programming? Things our forefathers believed that were handed down over the years?
Still undeterred, I assumed I had been speaking to the wrong people. Besides the proverb didn’t answer my question. I decided I would choose my interviewees by appearance. I would favour the shy and quiet types.
“Ah!” exclaimed the one I chose, shyly. “It is not true o! Not every woman would abandon her husband because of money. That is not correct at all. With children? Church wedding? It is not possible.”
This was music to my ears. I had found her. The chosen one. The pure heart. The much sought after…please join me again tomorrow as we discover more of the shy sister’s take on “Men, Women and Money”
Love,
Brownie.
This series was first published in 2013.
Copyright 2021 Owolabi Deborah
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