MATAR YARO Complete Hausa Novel Document by MATAR YARO

"You have every right to be upset, Mom. But what can we do? This is the fate God has written for us, and there’s no escaping it. I swear, there’s nothing I can do about it.  

Kenny, 'the black-mouthed one,' if you think I’m praising men too much, then let me make it clear—a man is worth nothing! And if you think I don’t know my worth, well, at least I know yours…  

Dad immediately responded, 'Haba, Mama, how can you say such a thing? I never imagined you’d speak like this. And you don’t even know what God has destined. Be patient with the little fate has given you in life. You talk as if you’re the only one suffering. I swear, Dad, I don’t know him, and I’ll never know him forever. Haba, what can he even do? I’m certain he’s incapable in every way when it comes to relationships. And anyway, I’m a woman of dignity!  

The pain, Mom, makes her restless. She keeps searching, but all she finds is more hardship. Everything that comes to her, she endures. The words she speaks, she prepares them well—she speaks with conviction. Dad then said, 'Haba, take it easy on us.'  

She clenched her heart tightly and swore that if they ever married her off to that boy—who wasn’t even mature, whose sickness had no cure—she would disgrace them all. She would make sure the whole world knew. Even if they forced her with stern looks, she would spend her nights in sorrow and bitterness, drowning in tears until sleep took her. She felt like a stranger in her own body, Mom, as if she were competing in a race she never signed up for."