Your child looks up to you

Monsieur Rukundo (not real name) is by any standard a rich man with a fleet of vehicles and multiple business interests in Kigali and many parts of the country. He is however known for his no nonsense attitude towards everyone and anyone. His uncontrollable anger and penchant for getting physical is extended almost to all including his wife and has cost him a fortune in cases of assault, from mainly his employees, settled out of court only his loads of cash cushions him from feeling the effect. It is said when he reaches his home his children disappear from view and make themselves busy with whatever they can, casual visitors disappear through the tiny rear gate of the wall fence of his home and only his unfortunate wife can bear his wrath. It is said even his gray-haired mother can hardly brave his presence longer after greeting him and she instead prefers to busy herself in the kitchen, saying she needs to pass on her cooking skills to the young people but does it only when the man is around. As fate would have it Mr. Rukundo’s teenage daughter in a boarding secondary school misbehaved; o.k. Satan came along the way and she got pregnant by a young man who happened to be from a family that is friends with hers. They did it only once after their parents busied themselves talking about different things as they drank wine and other drinks, the smaller children were snoozing on the soft leather sofas after playing all types of games which drained all the energy they may have had. The boy older than Mr. Rukundo’s daughter of course buoyed on by the red wine she had quickly gulped in the corridor of the house with the boy’s sister simply went through the small rear gate after colluding with the night watchman and did it with the boy. In fact they did it standing against the wall, so it was Shocking when after sometime later when her mother observed her and said she was pregnant. Of course she threatened to kill her and started slapping her with a sandal she was wearing. So she was compelled to say yes she had done it with the boy but mentioned that it was only for a short time and they had done standing. Her mother had said Mr. Rukundo would kill both of them and resolved the girl had to abort. The Doctor was a tough man and Mrs. Rukundo sought the assistance of a male Nurse who dressed people with wounds, injected people with medicine and also told people how to swallow the tablets. “Take one tablet in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night before going to bed” he would tell patients. Mrs. Rukundo said to him she wanted to talk to him after work so at the restaurant on the way to the city center met her as she sipped on a cold soda. She told him she wanted him to help contact the Doctor so her young daughter could abort lest her Father would kill both of them. The Nurse said it was illegal and any person who dared get involved could be prosecuted and sent to prison. After some time the man said that with man nothing is impossible and if she was ready to release it he and the Doctor could help her and her daughter. After paying a lot of money to the man Mrs. Rukundo took her daughter who had gotten ill the previous evening to the Polyclinic and after only four hours they joined the Driver who had been patiently waiting the vehicle in the parking lot. No one knew what had happened and when Mr. Rukundo was told at night that his daughter was sick he grunted something in anger and continued to his bedroom. After a couple of days the daughter had gotten well and Mrs. Rukundo thought that was the end of the issue but she was very wrong. After a week the male Nurse went to the Mrs. Rukundo’s shop and said he had an urgent issue he wanted to discuss with her. Mrs. Rukundo took her to one side where no one could overhear them but the man said it could only be discussed at the Clinic so after lunch she told the Driver to drive to the Clinic. The man said what had happened the previous week was evil and was sure God would punish him and everyone involved and he was ready to come clean on the issue by telling the whole story to his church, the Police and most importantly the most aggrieved person her husband who had lost his would be grandchild and the amount of money spent in the process. He said it was better for him to go to prison on this earth and not perish in hell in the afterlife for he had taken part in the murder of an unborn human being. Mrs. Rukundo pleaded with the man not tell anyone but the man could not change his mind even when she said she would pay him money for his silence because her husband would kill her if he came to know what had taken place. After a lengthy session of pleading the man said there was one way out: since he was already sinned, he had to sleep with her so that he could go to his Padre and ask for penitence for both sins and get cleaned thereafter because there is no way other people could sin and then he suffers the consequence of their sins by burning in hell. Mrs. Rukundo at first stood up and made some sound of as an expression of contempt by twisting her tongue and it forcing against the roof of her mouth but as the man insisted on telling her husband she sat down. By the time she joined the Driver in the vehicle an agreement had been reached with the man to meet in a lodge in one Kigali suburb. He went and said the same things to Mr. Rukundo’s daughter and added that double death was awaiting her should her mother hear about it. They agreed to go to the same lodge. When the man was nearing his death a couple of months later from HIV/AIDS he said to his close friend he did not fear death but the punishment for the sins he had committed against married women and their daughters and he was sure hell fire awaited him. The afore going is a true story though names have been changed and is written so that may be some of you may talk to your older children frankly and supportively instead of playing the roaming lion at home. ekaba2002@yahoo.com