There I was sitting in class pretending to listen to my teacher, well you wouldn't blame me, she sounds like a tired bird. Suddenly my phone vibrates and boy am I glad, finally some distraction from this boring class. Its an i.m from my childhood friend Shehu, we exchange pleasantries, but he says he is sad and as a good friend I ask why. That was when he dropped the bombshell, Amina passed away that morning.
How could that be i had just seen a very pretty display picture of her the previous night where she looked so full of life. I thought it was a lie and so I decided to check on her, I type Amina on my phone but she was no longer a contact, and that was when it hit me Amina was really dead. And the floodgate was let lose, I cried for the first time over somebody's death. Amina had been sick at night, her friends intended to take her to the hospital the next morning, but Amina was never to wake up.
The amount of young deaths in the country had been on the increase, every day i woke up to a new picture on my BBM list with 'RIP ..............., or 'we would miss you ..........' as the status message. I was getting worried and scared and even broke my rule of no broadcast to rebroadcast a message about praying against death among the youth earlier in the week. I never knew how painful the sting of death could be until it hit so close to home. Amina was dead, barely 26years old, so full of life and looking forward to getting married. I think I was looking forward to her marriage than she was, she was my only close Muslim friend and so I was gonna have a blast experiencing one with hers, guess I would never find that out.
Amina was dead, I cried, the rain poured out that day,it kept pouring like it felt my pain, my emotions were as stormy as the weather, my friend was gone forever but her memory was to live on in memory of the time we had together.
Good night Amina Kaoje, 1984 - 28 April 2011. A star left the earth that day and THE EARTH CRIED WHEN YOU LEFT.
