Rita is the newest child to join Itatu. She replaced Johnny who is now attending a nearby Secondary School. Rita is the youngest of our kids. I have asked that we start helping younger children in an effort to assist them longer.
Rita is eight years old. She currently resides with her cousin. We are told that Rita’s mother passed away of an unknown illness when Rita was two years old. Some believe this illness to have been AIDS. After her mother’s death Rita lived with her grandmother as her father was unknown. Rita’s grandmother was an elderly, uneducated woman who, like so many others feared witchcraft. The grandmother believed that the little girl was practicing witchcraft and often locked her out of the house at night.
After the death of her grandmother Rita went to stay with her aunt. This aunt passed away last year leaving Rita to stay with her young cousin. This cousin is said to find it difficult to care for Rita. She says the girl misbehaves and is undisciplined. As a form of punishment the cousin often withholds food and locks Rita out of the house.
Rita’s cousin survives on subsistence farming. She earns approximately $8 a month. Her house is made of mud with a grass thatch roof. The family sleeps on grass mats on the dirt floor.
When we had a party for the children in July Rita came in bare feet. When she was asked about her shoes she told us that the rats had eaten them. My reaction was “how horrible that rats are so near to her, being so bold as to come and chew her shoes.” Azikiwe pointed out to me that if rats are eating a shoe, that means there is no rice or maize in the house. Rats obviously prefer food to shoes.
At school Rita likes mathematics. When she grows up she’d like to be a police officer. Rita is an only child but has become friends with some of the girls at Itatu.
