She also taught them the songs that Mara had taught them as Mama Haga was not aware of the songs. She soon realised that the people of Huru took things very seriously and they did not have a lackadaisical attitude like the people of Goza had. Their attitude to learning the songs was very encouraging. She found it very easy to get along with them and to give them instructions to follow. She shuddered at the thought of her teaching her brothers and the other impressionable young men of Goza. She felt grateful that she was not in Mara’s shoes in teaching them the songs and how to pray.
Three months later, Beko discovered that she was pregnant. The couple were overjoyed at the news. The Hagas were over the moon with joy for them. Mabige told Beko, “You will need to start taking things easy now, my love. I don’t want you to overwork yourself any longer.”
Beko laughed and said, “I am just pregnant not sick, Mabige, it’s too early for me to stop working, surely?”
Mabige was adamant and said, “I mean it. I want you to take things slowly, its early days and caution must be taken.”
Beko feeling defeated said, “All right you win, anything you say.”
From that day, Mabige would come home several times a day just to check on Beko and to make sure she was not working too hard. He would come and speak to her bump and talk to the unborn child introducing himself as the father. Beko would shake her head and laugh at him calling him mad. However, she did enjoy the extra attention that he was showering her with lately.
She was also excited at the prospect of becoming a mother in around six months’ time. On the other hand, she also worried whether or not she would be a good mother to her child when it’d be born, but she knew that she was surrounded by people who love and care for her and that was reassuring.
Mama Haga told her that she would help her with knitting baby jumpers, booties, mittens and shawls to keep the baby warm. She also told her she would get her some swaddling clothes from the market. Beko just knew this baby was going to be spoilt rotten. She could imagine what her mother would do when she would tell her the news.
Every day, the two women would chat for hours on end while going about their daily duties and spending time in prayer and supplication for themselves and their families. On Beko’s list of people to pray for, she had now added her unborn child for protection and sound health. Mama Haga was getting increasingly worried about her husband’s health. Papa Haga was now spending more and more time in his bed and sometimes would feel too tired to rise up in the morning or to go for his regular long walks. His appetite wasn’t great either.
Mama Haga asked the people of Huru to come and pray for her husband when they came to her house to pray against the evil spirits. After a few days, he felt a lot better, but he was still very weak and could not do much, but would sit by the fire or in the sun to keep himself warm, even in the heat of day he was always feeling cold.
Mabige started working on building a coat for the baby and setting it up in the nursery room in time for its arrival. He was the most excited man in the village. He was keeping himself very busy ensuring there was enough for his family financially and materially. He was also very concerned with the health of his older brother, Papa Haga, and had gone to the nearby village doctor to get some medicines for him. The medicines did not seem to make a difference. Mama Haga had said to him, “My in-law, thank you for all your efforts, but my husband is not suffering from any known illness, but from old age. Unfortunately, there is no cure from old age. Otherwise he would have been cured by now!”
Mabige said, “It’s not easy to just watch him suffer though, that is why we are doing everything we can to make him comfortable.”
Mama Haga retorted, “I know, I want that more than anything myself too. I wish I could help him. All I can do is make him comfortable and pray for him to be well.”
Papa Haga continued to deteriorate in health over a period of five months. One night in late November, Beko went into labour as her baby was due. The local midwife was called to assist in delivering the baby. Beko’s mother had been sent word to come over to be there for when the baby would come. The whole Goza village had sent her with their love, best wishes and congratulations about the baby news.
Mama Haga could not be in the labour room as she was nursing her critically ill husband. Beko and Mabige were desperate for Papa Haga to hold on until he saw the baby as that was his greatest desire.
Beko’s labour went on for hours and hours and eventually a bouncy baby boy was born. Mabige cried tears of joy and cradled his baby for the first time, after he had been cleaned up. As soon as that was done, he took the baby next door to show him to his brother while the midwife and Beko’s mother cleaned her up and made her comfortable. When Mabige got into the room, Mama Haga stood with tears in her eyes, and her emotions were all over the place. She cried for joy at the birth of the baby and sorrow at the thought that she was losing
