Drugs and desperation

‘Oh, la hawla wala quwwata illa billah, what is the meaning of this?’ I said, looking at the video playing on my phone.  ‘And what is it now Bint? You never seem short of shocking episodes from that phone of yours.’ Tahir responded, putting his tooth brush back at it’s stand on the shelf. ‘Well […]

‘Oh, la hawla wala quwwata illa billah, what is the meaning of this?’ I said, looking at the video playing on my phone. 

‘And what is it now Bint? You never seem short of shocking episodes from that phone of yours.’ Tahir responded, putting his tooth brush back at it’s stand on the shelf.

‘Well you got it right the first time Hubby dear. It is a shocking episode indeed. Look at this video.’ I offered, handing the phone over to him. 

‘No Bint, I have no time to watch any videos now, shocking or otherwise. It’s time for me to sleep. I’ve done my pre-sleep ablution, brushed my teeth and worn my pyjamas. All I have left to do is my bedtime supplications and off I go. You are the night bird around here, watch all your videos till day break, then I’ll wake you up for prayer at dawn. As for me I know my tahajjud is guaranteed in sha Allah, if I go to bed now.’ And with that he lay on his side of the bed and raised his palms in prayer.

‘Please Tahir, don’t make your bedtime supplications just yet. This will only take a minute or two. Just watch it and tell me what you think is happening.’ I persisted.

‘Ok, since I like the way you beg, I’ll oblige you.’ He answered, reaching out for the phone I was handing to him, from where I sat, on the bed. He quietly touched the play button and two young ladies wearing the hijab and doing a video selfie of themselves were heard talking. The first one said in Hausa, while looking straight into the camera: 

“Hi, we want to get married.’ The second girl also said ‘Hi’ to the camera. ‘They will be getting us married, won’t they my friend?’ First Girl repeated. And while making funny, lewd faces into the camera, she again said ‘Honestly they should get us married.’  At this point Second Girl joined by saying ‘Assalamu alaikum my name is Fauzy baby. Please get us married.’ Then as if to round up the video, First Girl simply said ‘Truly, all we want is to get husbands.”

‘It’s clear to see’ Tahir began, while giving the phone back to me ‘that these girls are not in full control of  their senses. I am almost certain they are into drug abuse. It’s the only way they could get the guts to act so shamelessly.’ He ended.

‘Do you now see why I said I was so shocked. I mean they look traditional with their hijab and Hausa speech and the area they are making the video from seems like a local part of town. If they were wearing western dresses and speaking English in a GRA-like area, I’d simply say they are copying something they’ve seen in a movie and must not be taken seriously. But look at their situation. How did our local girls grow so bold? Did you see the lewd noises and the pouting faces the first girl was making? I can’t believe any girl would want to be seen doing that, let alone record the video and make it public.’ I observed. 

‘But you heard what I said, the girls are intoxicated. It’s quite obvious. And in that state they feel emboldened to do anything.’ Tahir replied.

‘But they don’t look drunk. Yes, their behaviour is wierd but they don’t look drunk.’ I countered. 

‘That’s because they aren’t intoxicated with liquor, it’s any of those drugs that young men and women abuse these days. They may not look drunk but they will surely act drunk.’ He insisted.

‘But how did it get to this? I mean young women wishing to get husbands are usually on their behaviour among men. How can these girls hope to attract any marriage material with their kissing noises and their promiscuous moves? I don’t think any reasonable person will watch this video and feel inclined towards them.’ I opined. 

‘But that’s the miscalculation caused by their drug induced minds. To them, by being daring and advertising themselves on video they will get what they couldn’t get by being good girls. I mean it is obvious they are desperate to get married, but since no suitors are readily available they decided to take the novel method of social media advertisement. I mean almost every phone has a video camera these days, no matter how cheap it is. So with their hawking proceeds, they decided to buy phones and go for self-advertising. It’s really a pathetic situation. And if some immoral persons stumble  upon the video, they can easily pose as genuine suitors only to take advantage of the girls and move on. By then they will have more to worry about than now; loss of innocence and no husbands to show for it.’ Tahir concluded.

‘But what can we do about them?’ I asked.

‘Frankly Bint, I just want to sleep. I have to wake up at 4am. Ask me tomorrow morning.’ He replied, turning to his side of the bed. 

‘But Tahir, I won’t be able to sleep knowing that such misguided young ladies are on the lose and we have no clue how to help them. Please give me any suggestion you can think of now. We can build on it tomorrow in sha Allah.’ I pleaded.

‘Ok, first of all use your NGO and others like it, to make a census of these girls roaming the streets without schooling or a serious vocation. Locate their parents. If they are hawkers, which I suspect they are, liberate them from hawking by sending them to schools or some vocational training centres and then provide the parents with equipments like grinding or sewing machines or even farming implements, to keep them empowered and enable their daughters to have a bright future. Right now the girls think their only future is in getting married and since the husband isn’t forthcoming they are into drugs and desperation.’ Tahir suggested, suppressing a yawn. 

‘You are right. Thanks a lot hubby dear. You have certainly given us a blueprint to work on. Good night, sweet dreams, love you.’ I said, giving him a peck on the forehead before I walked to my side of the bed.