The Strength Of a Woman

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Well it’s the holidays and I’m laying on my bed, looking at the ceiling and doing nothing else, a clear indication that I’m bored as usual. I was kinda hoping that the sweet hands of sleep would come sweep me away for at least some few hours before this place gets noisy but that didn’t happen and then all of a sudden I find myself thinking about a particular female friend of mine in school. And it’s because of this friend of mine, that I had decided to title today’s post this way.

Up until I gained admission into the university, I never knew what menstrual cramp was neither did I see anyone suffering from the menstrual pain but all of that changed one faithful night at my hostel.

The time was around 10:13pm, I was on my room, all attention on my phone and minding my business when I got a text from a friend. She had asked if I was around and I had replied her text, telling her I was inside. She had pleaded with me to please come to her room.

When I got to her room, I wasn’t prepared for the drama that unfolded. I had found her on the floor wriggling in pain. Remember this was my first time seeing someone in pains as a result of cramps so I completely lost on what to do. I didn’t know the drugs to get, neither did I know who to call.

When I knew the whole thing was starting to get out of hand was when she started hallucinating, she started conversing with her mom who has been dead for some years now. I know it might sound far fetched but I kid you not, all of this were playing right before my eyes. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.

I had thought of running out and leaving her alone with the spirits but she was a close friend and I knew she was going through a lot of pains and that was what was causing all of the hallucinations so I had called her uncle who prayed for her (because that is what every African parent would do) after which I decided to go look for help from our neighbors. Luckily for me, one of the neighbors still had some pain killers that she uses during her own cramps and had given it to her.

When I returned back to my room later that night after she had fallen asleep, the first thing I did was thank God I wasn’t a woman because I seriously wouldn’t like going through a thing like that every month.