Chapter Eight

 

At the Johannesburg prisons…

A ceiling fan was the only source of ventilation for the three inmates, ‘Mama,’ Khadijah, and Mercy. The four-bunk arrangement and dressed-in-blue gown outfits were what they had to live with. Under the watchful eyes of the longest serving inmate, Mama, the group gets along well together.

Until Maya was thrown in with them. After that, altercations and bitter fights were now common. Not long after, Mama had had enough.

Bringing her “family” together, Mama had Maya stand before them. The attitudes of the other girls ranged from anger and spite to fear and distrust. Mama knew things had to change.

With what came  as close to love as she could get, Mama gazed at Maya. She then started the speech that she hoped would turn Maya’s heart towards the rest of the group.

“Togetherness is all that counts! For the past three weeks, we’ve been trying to reason with you, and to get along with you. Yet you aren’t considerate. Respect is reciprocal, you know. We have similar reasons why we are in this prison. But one thing is sure; the four of us are not just here by coincidence. I believe there is something we will all learn from each other that will change the remaining parts of our lives. Young woman, for your good, learn to behave the way we behave. I’m sure that you’ve seen for the past three weeks how organised and united the three of us are. The jailer had no cause to come in to settle any rift


among us. What has kept us safe and out of trouble since the beginning of our stay in the prison is the order that we follow. However, ever since you came into this prison, we have been having heated arguments, arguing with you, even giving some of us cause to beat you up. The jailer has had to come and lecture us, which has never happened before. For your sake and for the general peace of everyone, I want you to behave yourself. Follow our character rules, or else your experience will be bitter – of that I can assure you. You’ll like our company better if you do what we do.”

The others, sitting on their beds in the cell, nodded in agreement.

Twenty minutes later, after thinking through Mama’s words, Maya fell on her knees. She begged her and the rest for their forgiveness. “I’m sorry for what I have caused you all. I promise it won’t happen again. I’m willing to cooperate with you guys, no matter what. To be truthful, I’m tired of doing things on my own while seeing you do your things together. I know I have acted stupidly all this time.” She looked at them with tears in her eyes. “Please, see me as your baby sister!”

The other cellmates joined Mama, who was standing at the center of the room to accept her apologies. At the center of the cell, with the other two inmates flanking her, Mama said, “From the moment the jailer opened the prison door to have you join us, I sensed a graced woman who is here, not only to serve her prison sentence, but learn from the School of Hard Knocks what it means to live a grace-filled life. By and by, you will understand what I am telling you.

“Unfortunately, your childish attitude hasn’t helped matters since you came here. But now that you’ve seen your wrongs, we will help to give your stay in prison something positive to remember. My intuition strongly tells me that you’ll be released


before the stipulated prison sentence is up. So, while you’re with us, let’s get to know each other better – nationality, background, why we are here, and other things. With this knowledge, I believe, we will begin to learn things that will help us understand why we are here.”

Mama was done with her talk. The one to the left of her told Maya to get up.

“If she could forgive you, then so can we.” The second one to the right nodded her head in agreement.

Maya stood up and thanked them profusely. “Whatever you say is what I will follow. I really want to learn what I ought to have learned. I promise you I will always listen to what you have to tell me.”