The Unforgettable Day ‘Caterpillar’ Marched My Mother To Death
In 2018, A Nigerian Mother Died In A Way People In Her Community Still Whisper About.
But The Strange Part Was How She Died And The Signs That Came Before It.
READ TILL THE END!
A day before her death, a woman arrived at her compound asking for anointing oil, saying she sensed danger… n 2018, when many Nigerians still held onto hope that tomorrow would be kinder, a tragedy happened in a community that people there still whisper about.
It was an ordinary family of six.
A father.
A mother.
Four children.
The first daughter was 14. The first son was 12. Another daughter was 9. The last born, male was just 6.
The mother was the breadwinner. Her husband had once been a successful contractor, but life had turned. To feed the family, she ran a small mama-put stall, selling cooked rice. Her children helped her. Her husband supported her. Life was hard, but they were managing.
Then strange signs began.
On a Wednesday evening, September 17, a woman came unexpectedly to their compound asking for anointing oil. She told the couple she sensed danger around them. She prayed and left.
Nobody understood.
Early the next morning, September 18, Eke market day, the mother woke before dawn to cook, as mama-put women do.
But something odd happened.
Soldier ants had filled the compound so thick she could barely step into the outdoor kitchen.
Some would have taken it as a warning.
But she fought through the ants, cooked, and left for her stall.
At the market, she sat with her first daughter peeling ginger and garlic while talking with a friendly neighbor who had come with her three children.
Later she remembered she had not prayed that morning.
She excused herself to the back of the stall to pray.
Then returned.
By midday her husband came back from market carrying a bunch of plantain. His white shirt had gotten stained. She cleaned it for him and told him to go home and change.
Then she sent one child to collect debts from customers.
She sent the younger daughter home to wash plates.
She sent the lastborn to bring a wheelbarrow for packing up.
Almost as if she was unknowingly moving her children out of danger.
Then it happened.
A tipper lost its brakes.
People said the driver battled the steering for a long stretch before the vehicle thundered toward the stall.
The zinc roofing crashed.
People scattered.
The woman with three children fled.
The daughter was trapped under falling zinc.
And the mother ran into the road.
Witnesses said she had escaped.
She was safe.
But then she saw a little boy selling akpu, frozen in confusion, unaware death was rushing toward him.
And she ran back.
She pushed the boy to safety.
The tipper hit her head-on.
The boy lived.
She did not.
The truck finally stopped beside her body.
Her daughter crawled out from the damaged stall, saw her mother lying there, and ran barefoot home screaming:
“Caterpillar has jammed my mommy!
Caterpillar has jammed my mommy!”
Her father ran toward the scene, fainted before he reached it, revived, tried again, and had to be restrained. The daughter saw the scene and ran off using another route, she wanted to reach her mother but she was been spotted and brought back as she kept screaming in hot tears.
The family shattered.
The church mourned.
The community mourned.
People still say the sky darkened that evening, and yes it did! Her soul’s ascension, I guess.
She was remembered as a devoted Christian, a sacrificial mother, a woman who died saving another person’s child.
Her name was Stella Chinyere Edwin.
And this story was told by the first daughter who witnessed it all.
I am that daughter.
AMARACHI LETICIA EDWIN.
