Don’t pray for stepmom like mine

In northern part of my country, having more than one wife (Polygamy) is allowed due the teachings of ISLAM.

We were a family of 8, my father, his two wives which includes my mother and 5 children; 3 three for my mother and 2 for the step mom. We were living happily before things start going sideways.

Both of my parents Started having issues, They were Quarreling With each other every blessed day.

The relationship between them got tarnished Which led them to part ways. My mother left our father’s house without taking us along with her, That day was one of my darkest day of my life. My two little sisters and I, We cried to the extent that We couldn’t even recognize ourselves, we were at our lowest because we knew what was coming our way, we truly knew that our stepmother hated us so much and she doesn’t hide her hatred toward us and She was going to do anything in her power to make our living in that house as miserable and unbearable as she could.

I was confused because I was so naïve and clueless on how take care of myself talk more of my younger ones, I was 7yrs old and my twins sisters were 4yrs old respectively, I became their babysitter.

Our father was walking with a construction company in Baitaz town, which was 374 Kilometers drive from our village, only on weekends we had a chance to see him because he used to spend the five working days over there.

Whenever he was around, she would treat us like her own children with enough love and care, and by doing so, she earned his trust and would mentally and verbally abuse us, without him knowing what we were going through.

We were in that situation for many years only having ourselves to hold on to. until one day during the harmattan (sandstorm) season we were sleeping on the floor without blankets in one of the abandoned rooms of the house and the weather was extremely cold. Unexpectedly, our dad showed up and saw us in that condition, I could still remember the look of pain, sadness but mostly anger in his eyes. He started calling her. Yelling out her name in anger. They got into a heated argument which I tried my hardest not to let my siblings hear, it got so bad to the extent where he asked her to leave his house and she left.

That was the day we got our freedom back after several years of tormenting us , it was a terrible experience and I’m not praying for anyone to find himself/herself in such a dreadful situation.