Last week’s article stirred emotions that did not settle until mid week. Mary was disturbed that in this day and age a man can see a nicely dressed woman and say she is dressed by a man or as per the basis of that story; she is going to ‘eat someone’s money’! As for Mutoni, she does not get why some men think women work for stones. I mean, how else would one explain that a man who works in an office with women will comment about them like that yet they get paid in the same currency? A lady in Kisumu, Kenya narrated the story of her mother who lost everything when their father passed away a few years ago. The general assumption that a man is the rightful owner of everything a family owns cost a woman years of her sweat. Anastacia started off humbly with her husband, they worked hard and made something for themselves. Everything owned by the family resulted from combined efforts but in spite of this, whenever her sisters in law picked a fight they would say how she is spending their brother’s money. When they built a house, the mother in law berated the son for not starting by building her one. Meantime, the wife not wanting to emasculate her man, would take everything in and not even once came up to say it was their money because after all, they invested in everything jointly. Their children went to good schools, the family continued doing well. Mildred says when their father passed on they saw what they had never imagined possible. Their aunts and uncles moved into the house even before their father was laid to rest, took away everything, leaving the family in distress. When one gets infuriated by comments like ‘that woman is going to eat someone’s money,’ it is because there are women that have worked so hard and at times covered up for useless men in their lives only for them to be thrown out of houses they built with their own hands. Tontoh Dikeh, a renowned Nigerian actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist, recently came out on YouTube in a three-part video to respond to stories that were being told about her. The ex husband had been having interviews on Nigerian media saying how he had invested in their relationship. Unknown to many, Tontoh had been scammed by a guy who claimed to be Obasanjo’s son. When time came for them to wed, the man who lived in Ghana coerced her into paying service providers in Nigeria saying he would reimburse. She obliged. When things went sour they separated, hence, the public humiliation. When she could no longer keep quiet, Tontoh told the world how she covered up for a man she had fallen in love with. He lied; he said they owned a house yet they lived in a rented one. Also, the man had only bought four pieces of clothing for their baby since birth. She had receipts and evidence to confirm what she was saying. Moral of the story, do not provoke a woman into producing receipts!
