The dark-brown building at 32, Awori/Morica Street, Agege, Lagos stands out like a sore thumb, but locating the single room where she currently takes refuge with her three sets of twins is a bit more challenging.
Gaining access to the room situated at the back of the main building requires groping through a dark passage, made easier when you switch on your cellphone torch light.
An unpleasant odour emanates from the row of rooms built against the rear fence. The room you are looking for is on the ground floor.
It measures 8 feet by 8 feet and you almost mistake it for one of the toilets or bathrooms that flank it on the right and left.
Directly above is the bathroom for that floor, and water runs down Ruth’s room whenever occupants of that floor are taking a bath.
When Vanguard finally located Ruth, she was deep in prayer. There was no electricity and it was pitch dark inside the room. It was also very hot.
Ruth immediately switches on her cellphone torch light and urged the reporter to take a seat on one of the two plastic chairs. As she prayed, she shed tears. She prayed for all women and mothers.
Her voice shook with emotion as she prayed. “May your husband not die prematurely, and may he not run away or abandon you. May you not be left alone with the burden of responsibilities for the whole house, and may you not run mad with worry.”
When she was through, and after the initial pleasantries,the reporter stated his mission and asked how she came to be in her current predicament.
Ruth and Emeka were married in 2009. As a new couple in the village, they had a brilliant plan and part of it was to move out of the village in search of greener pasture. They both hail from Abia state but different communities. When Emeka first came to Lagos, he put up with his brother when the latter got married, Emeka was forced to struggle to rent his own room. It was then he asked Ruth to come over in 2007.
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