Hadijat's Dilemma

Love can surely make one misbehave, but is it right on the path of a young girl who had not yet figured out which direction her life would go? A girl with nothing to her name, not a secondary school or high school certificate. Sometimes I wondered where things went wrong in the life of Hadijat. Was it the parents or the little girl herself? Although peer pressure can also contribute to misleading young girls, I couldn't place whose fault it was in Hadijat's case.

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Hadijat is a fifteen-year-old girl in JSS3. She was an apprentice to my hairstylist. Since she was in JSS2, there have been some changes in her behaviour, Sometimes my stylist does complain to me about how she comes late to work, or sometimes won't show up at all. Although she was loved by some of the customers because she had been with my stylist since she was ten years old. She was respectful then, and as a growing innocent girl, the customers liked her, including me. Sometimes I do gift her my clothes and buy things for her until she changed completely.

Whenever my stylist complained to me, I always took it as a joke, saying, "She's just growing, she might be influenced, but then I will talk to her." That was always my response until she acted in front of me one day. That faithful day, I went to plait my hair, and by 11am, Hadijat was not yet at her work, which prompted me to ask her.

"I told you she's now a big girl, she no longer comes to work regularly. She comes when it's convenient for her", my stylist replied.

I was speechless and after a few minutes she arrived, greeted me, and her boss. "I've asked of you madam, hope no problem. You're a bit late today", I asked.

My stylist burst into laughter because she knew what Hadijat's response would be, but I asked her to let Hadijat reply first. "I was busy at home", she replied firmly.

"Hadijat, it's the weekend and you knew you would be coming to work today. You should have been up early to do whatever you wanted to do, at least it's not your first time coming to work", I said, and immediately she made funny faces, passing a message that she doesn't care about what I said. Immediately I knew the girl was gone.

My stylist called Hadijat's mom to know if she was the one who delayed her, but the mother said Hadijat had been out of the house since 8am in the morning. It was then that I was shocked. I just couldn't say anything again because I was wondering what went wrong with her. She wanted to touch the attachment I was using to plait my hair but my stylist shunned her and asked her not to touch anything. At that instance, I was expecting an apology, but instead she sat down and pressed her phone. This got my stylist annoyed; she asked her to kneel, which Hadijat wanted to object to, but later she reluctantly obeyed and gave disgusting facial expressions. I didn't know where to start the advice from.

Once in a while, if I meet her at work, I do try my little best to talk sense into her, hoping she will listen. Last August, my stylist told me she had packed up and moved out of her parents' house. She was no longer living with her mom, I was told she moved in with her so-called boyfriend. This was a girl in JSS3 who had not even sat for the Junior WAEC.

She was pulling these acts without considering the consequences. My stylist told me she heard that she gave birth in March this year and she is now seeing the other side of life that goes beyond falling in love and moving in with a man who is not yet ready to be a husband, not to mention a father. She now ran away at the sight of anyone she knew. I haven't had the chance to meet her. I wondered what a fifteen-year-old girl knew about marriage that made her think marriage was the next line of action, and hers wasn't even marriage. She moved in willingly with a man without a proper or formal exchange of vows. Hadijat took a reckless action due to reasons best known to her but whatever the reason might be, she should have chosen differently. She is presently dancing to the tunes she created herself.

Thanks for your time and your comments will be appreciated.

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