I had a child at the age of 15. I was very young and stupid, and my parents (Mum especially) wasn’t enthused about me being pregnant at that young age, and so she made arrangements with her Cousin in Takoradi, for me to stay with her.
My mother’s Cousin had been married for years without a child, and unknown to me, mum had discussed with her to take my baby to raise it as her own after it was born.
I gave birth to a baby boy. Mum had been telling folks in Accra, that I had travelled abroad for a year to study. I gave my baby up for my ‘Auntie’ to raise, five months after giving birth to him. I was young then, and though I couldn’t understand a lot of things, I felt pained giving him up.
I returned to Accra to continue with my education and life. Five years after my return to my parents, I got a call from my Auntie. She needed me to say hello to my ‘Cousin’. My son was 5 years old, and I had even forgotten.
Mum didn’t want me to look back. She didn’t want me to think about the fact that I had a child and gave it up. I remember my mother conditioning me to believe I would have more kids in future when I married, and I believed her.
I had almost forgotten about my child because I needed to believe I had made the right decision. And, I do not regret giving him to my Auntie. He has been raised right.
The father of the child is now a prominent preacher in Ghana. If anyone would have told me back then, that the 19-year-old boy who impregnated me would become this great a preacher, and resourceful, I would never have believed it. But he is today.
He thought I aborted the pregnancy because he couldn’t have raised it either. His parents couldn’t have. And, he was a student then. It’s been over two decades and some years today. I am married with four kids.
My husband is a wonderful man, everything I dreamed of to be married to, and more. I am very happy. My ‘cousin’ /son, is a mature man now, pursuing his Masters in a University in Accra. He calls me ‘Auntie’, and visits my home a lot. He loves my kids, and my husband adores him.
Dave, since his first move to Accra, to pursue his bachelor’s degree, we’ve bonded in a way I just cannot explain.
According to my Auntie, anytime he calls her, all he talks about is me and my children. My Auntie believes it’s time we tell him the truth, but Dave, I am very scared.
I feel he already knows something, because the rate at which he calls or visits my home just to check on me, I feel he knows. But my Auntie claims she’s not told him anything yet. She calls my Auntie, Mother and her husband, Dad.
He believes those people are his biological parents, however, I feel he can read through me whenever he stares deep into me.
This is not even my biggest concern. He has become a Church member of his biological father’s Church. Apparently, he had come to preach at an outreach crusade organized by his Church on Campus – when he was pursuing his first degree.
He said, he saw his poster one time and he felt they ‘looked alike’. That was his motivation to attend the campus crusade. He had fallen in love with him afterwards and wanted to be a member of his church.
The boy is overly excited about the preacher; he talks and smiles and acts almost like him. He dresses just like him too (his father is very fashionable). He was telling me one time, how the preacher almost paused during a sermon when he set his eyes on him for the first time.
He tells me they haven’t met one on one yet, but he’s been told by friends at the church, that he’s been asking about him from some of the church members close to him. And they tell him. And he’s been wondering why his General overseer would ask about him from people.
My husband does not even know I have a child. Only my parents and Auntie and her husband. My siblings didn’t even know I was pregnant then. Mum made them buy into the lie of me travelling to study.
The boy has become so close to me and my children, I am beginning to worry.
My kids think he is their brother. My second son wants him to really be his senior brother. And they are always calling to talk to him on the phone.
I tried to get that past over with, but the way things are going, I don’t know what I would do if the truth finally comes out.
My fear now is his sudden love for his Bishop. Dave and this man has his family too.
And knowing this boy, he will never rest until he is very close to him to figure out why the need to be close to him.
