Matar Mahaifina Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

She was startled awake by the cold water poured on her body. It was freezing. She slowly opened her heavy, sleepy eyes to see Baba Laure standing over her, holding a container of water. With a scowl on her face, she said, “You useless girl, from a family of witches! Get up and finish my work, or I swear your body will tell you.”

Weakly, she got up, still burning with fever. She hadn’t eaten anything since the previous day except a little pap that morning, and even that hadn’t been more than thirty minutes before the cold water was poured on her.

She rose like someone whose body was breaking apart from within. Baba Laure had already stormed off, still muttering angrily, “If I come back and you haven’t finished my work, you’ll see what I’ll turn you into—you’ll look like a demon!”

Maryam came out and gathered all the dirty dishes in one place. She went to the kitchen, cleaned it, and blew on the fire to make it burn stronger so she could cook. Then she returned to the dishes and started washing them. After making sure the fire was properly set, she put a pot on it and continued washing until she finished. By then, the call to prayer had already been made. She went to pray, made her supplications, and then cleaned the house thoroughly as if it had never been in disarray.

After that, she prepared pap and sat down to fry bean cakes (kosai), trying to finish quickly so she could go to school. When she was done frying, she fetched bathing water for the children of the house. Then she took a bucket and fetched water, filling all the containers in the house. By the time she finished everything, she was completely exhausted. She still felt feverish, and despite all the work she had done, she knew that even if she sat down and skipped school, she wouldn’t be allowed to rest.

By then, the rest of the household had come out, bathed, dressed in their school uniforms, and were having breakfast.

She fetched some water to bathe, since there was no hot water, and if she tried to heat some, it might make her late for school. After bathing, she dressed in her worn-out school uniform, faded from constant washing.

She came to eat, but found only leftover pap—the remains of what others had already taken. She didn’t even get a single piece of kosai. This wasn’t the first time; she was used to it. Some days, she didn’t get anything at all.

So she drank the now-cold pap and went to greet Baba. But Baba didn’t even look at her.

She left the house. It was already around 8:20.