"Your father in his hands, you’re going to marry an old man Elhaji, that’s why
our grandmother cut off the marriage, the suitcase is already packed, only Turai is left"

KARIMA laughed because of how her mother was talking, it was funny.
She agreed with the advice but there was something about her young love
that was tightening in the corner of her heart. Mudansir had proposed to her for the sake of
Allah, so with that she hurried to go back and hide in school
until they closed and she came out with her friends and they went home together.

When they got home today the atmosphere was more tense than usual, even until
the time their father came home. There was no noise because from him to their mother everyone had
kept quiet. Far away, when he got to where she was
greeting him, he didn’t say anything to her. He didn’t even look at her at all.
He didn’t enter out of anger, but he made a prayer and cursed and then left her.
He did something shameful, he looked at her face and said "You
don’t talk, the story we heard yesterday, I’m sure today I heard it from
the groom’s father. If anything happens, we’ve agreed you’ll get married and that’s
it, everything is settled, just get ready, my daughter"

Mama was holding her Qur'an, she took him by the hand nicely and stood up
behind him. When she got up she took the path that would take her to his side but she didn’t tell
him "um bale um'um ba". That made the father get angry. After he stared at her
he turned and saw the children, they looked at him quickly and went to their
rooms.

I don't know what he was thinking looking at them. The time had come for him to tell
the young man at the gate of the house to go back. The girls, the time had come for them to separate from him.
As for ANNY, she was joking but he didn’t care. Apparently the children had given 20,000
before? He would find a husband for each girl and they should go because wallahi he would not
agree for them to bring boyfriends, except for useless people in the house.

Then he also held his mouth and in his heart he was saying "a girl said she
wants a boyfriend in the house of people who have boyfriends, I agree for her to enter, and wallahi saying
she should do the worst of manners, that’s not what I want". He was, innallilahi, saying
this woman is stronger than me, she shames me, I obey her.
Allah is ahead, Allah let me go ahead and marry off the scared girl, let her be married
and in the house. Even if she goes to Nine’s house where we are
marrying off girls, let him go, I’m sure today he will come
to town. That’s why even going I’ll go today, he will greet Sirikinsa,
and at the front of Sirikinsa there are scholars and strong
people and also elders. Karima, you’ve finished school, it’s time for you to
finish your stay in Niger, it’s confirmed.

And he also said "Go and go to school, what, you still haven’t finished
your studies? Until now there’s no job in you?"

They didn’t say anything, they just left quietly. What does he know about
school matters? A man who knows nothing and only touches them when
he’s angry, what does he know? Among them Khadija is the youngest, she’s in an exam class
now and she’s finished, she’s going to University. From primary school to
the level they are at now, going to University, he
used to get certificates, that’s why he and their mother would discuss and choose what
they want to study. She’s the one who goes to school, she finished everything, paid for everything.