Valerie Watts experienced something no parent should experience. She was nine months pregnant and had a few days left before giving birth, when she received the tragic news that the baby in her womb had died.
It took Valerie a while, but eventually she decided to sell the crib at a garage sale – but she wasn’t prepared for what happened after the crib was sold.
Now this lovely story is spreading online like wildfire and for all the right reasons.
“I knew it all week. He hardly moved. I was very stressed”.
Those are the words Valerie Watts said when she talked about the week before her son, Noah, became stillborn.
After the traumatic experience of giving birth to a stillborn baby, Valerie couldn’t bring herself to sell Noah’s things or touch the baby room she had made for him. She was so broke that she left the room as
it was for a year.
But a year later, she thought she had enough strength to organize a garage sale and sell Noah’s belongings. It was a difficult decision and she forced herself to sell several items – especially the crib,
to which she was most attached. She was sure it would be the last thing anyone would want to buy.
But to her surprise, an older man named Gerald was interested in the crib. Gerald restores old furniture in his spare time and thought he could use a crib. He insisted on buying the crib, but sensed that
Valerie wasn’t sure she wanted to sell it.
“She hesitated, I knew maybe she didn’t want to sell it. But she sold it anyway..”, Gerald said.
Gerald was unaware of the real reason behind the garage sale. He saw that Valerie was selling baby clothes and assumed that her child had grown up and that there were things she no longer needed. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
Gerald didn’t know that his wife, who was also at the garage sale, had spoken to Valerie beforehand and asked her how old her child was. Valerie told her that her son had passed away and it broke the woman’s
heart.
Gerald put the crib in the car and he and his wife went back home. On their way home, his wife told him Valerie’s story. They understood what the crib meant to Valerie and why she was hesitant to sell it to
them. They decided they needed to return the crib to her.
But Gerald thought it would hurt Valerie if he returned the cradle to her in its entirety – in cradle form, so he decided to turn it into a beautiful chair as a memorial to Noah.
A week later, Gerald returned to Valerie’s house with a gift. The unused crib has now become a beautiful chair that will be in her home and will be a memory for Noah.
Valerie was left in tears by the amazing and moving gesture of this man she does not know at all.
“It’s amazing, and there are good people out there, that’s the proof”, she said.
Before we begin with the history of Ibadan, let us set some facts straight. Ibadan, (pronounced E- baa- dawn) the present capital of Oyo State, is the third-most populous city in Nigeria (with over 3.5 million dwellers) after Lagos and Kano.
Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state, is the third-largest city in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano. The city is popularly known for its rich and fascinating history, culture and amazing tourist destinations. One of the most visited tourist destinations in Ibadan is the University of Ibadan Zoological Garden which was established in 1948. It is home to a wide array of animals comprising mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
Mum-Zi was a member of Chief Akkiri’s harem in Akwa Akpa (now Calabar), who would later be the father of her daughter. Pic credit: Twitter
Who Was Mum-Zi – The Youngest Grandmother in the World?
Mum-Zi was just eight years and four months old when she gave birth to a baby girl in 1884.
From Nigeria, on an island called Akwa Akpa, now known as the city of Calabar, Mum-Zi’s daughter followed her mother’s footsteps, becoming a mother at the age of eight years and eight months thus making Mum-zi the youngest Grandmother in the world…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Over the years, it has not been uncommon to find young parents out there but what is perhaps unusual is to find young teens – as young as 17 – as grandparents.
In recent times, most people at that age are looking to complete their education or to graduate from high school. The thought of even becoming a parent is rare, thus, having grandchildren is often out of place.
But this was not the situation for Mum-Zi and her daughter, as well as, other young girls in the 19th Century.
According to Lyall Archibald’s 1936 book, The Future of Taboo in These Islands, Mum-Zi was a member of Chief Akkiri’s harem in Akwa Akpa (now Calabar), who would later be the father of her daughter.
Since the 16th Century, Calabar had been a busy international seaport, shipping out goods such as palm oil.
Historical accounts state that during the Atlantic slave trade, it became a major port in the transportation of African slaves, with most slave ships being owned by Bristol and Liverpool.
Some missionaries would later record the challenges of poor water supplies, malaria, and the presence of some tribes who were sometimes not too welcoming to evangelists and other slave traders.
What was common, however, was the fact that chiefs kept a harem of wives and slaves.
The harem is basically a female backyard or household largely reserved for princes and lords of this world.
In most parts of Africa and elsewhere, a harem, in terms of royal harems of the past, may house a man’s wives and concubines, as well as, their children, unmarried daughters, female domestic workers, and other unmarried female relatives.
Mum-Zi was one of the many women and girls who lived in a harem belonging to Chief Akkiri. After giving birth at 8 years and four months, with the chief being the father, her daughter would also become a mother exactly eight years later. She was reportedly impregnated by the same chief who happens to be her father.
She gave birth at an age slightly older than that of her mother’s, as she was 8 years plus 8 months. Nevertheless, this remains one of the shocking moments in history.
Ever since the 1700s, a number of cases have been highlighted to show how girls and women across the world suffer just because of their gender.
Among these forms of gender-based violence is child marriage, which denies children the right to be children and take away from them the opportunities for education and a better life. It also exposes them to risk of violence at the hands of their usually older and powerful husbands.
A recent report by Girls Not Brides revealed that globally, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children and 17 per cent of them, or 125 million, live in Africa.
It added that about 39 per cent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa are married before the age of 18 and all African countries face the challenge of child marriage.
According to the report, Niger has the highest number of child brides, with three out of four girls married before they are 18.
The Central African Republic follows. There, the legal minimum age for marriage is 18, however, girls can get married at 13 years if it is approved by a court and/or if the girl is pregnant.
In some cases, earlier marriage is allowed if a parent consents to it. At third place is Chad, which has a rate of 67 per cent.
Some of the drivers for child marriage in these countries are poverty, upholding social and religious traditions, as well as, conflict, which forces many parents to consent to child marriage as a way of protecting their girls from violence and sexual assault.
