This story is a bit hard to narrate. I don’t recognise myself anymore. In the space of about 5 years, I have become everything I vowed never to become. In 2017, I gained admission into a prestigious University (I prefer not to mention the name) and in 2018, I lost both of my parents in a car accident. They were returning from a funeral and they both lost their lives. The news was so devastating to me that for that sem, I failed two of my papers. My four siblings were shared amongst my uncles and aunties they will call me at school and cry on the phone that they were hungry, or my auntie discriminates amongst them, or an uncle hit them with a chair. It was always one issue after the other. As the first born, I couldn’t even concentrate on school because I felt responsible for my younger siblings and I wanted to take them away from some of my aunties.
Our lastborn has autism and he was staying with one of my father’s sisters. It was the same place I was also staying during the vacation. My brother was always neglected and he would cry and cry without anyone attending to him. It made me miss my mother so much because she studied the condition from the moment she gave birth to him and she knew how well to handle him. When I came to stay with them and I was leaving, my brother didn’t want to let me go. He clung to me so tightly and I couldn’t hold back my tears. I begged my auntie to try and give him a little bit more attention and she said I was a very ungrateful girl for suggesting that. We were orphans and we should be grateful that we had a roof to sleep under.
When I returned to school, I started finding ways to make money to free my siblings in the future. Not all of our aunties and uncles were treating us badly. My mother’s brother was the best. He was even calling me to ask of me at school and my sister was staying with him. The one who comes directly after me. I didn’t want to create problems for my aunties and uncles. I don’t think they’re bad people persay, but I know how difficult it is to raise your own kids and add that of your late sibling’s child as well. I started selling clothes on campus to sustain me because apart from my mother’s brother who was sending me some money for my upkeep at school, I wasn’t receiving it from anywhere else.
In the midst of that hardship, a friend of mine introduced me to a lecturer. What she told me was that the man was very wealthy and apart from him lecturing, he owns a huge farm and has many workers. She told me he could place me on a scholarship because I was struggling to pay my fees. I also had some outstanding resits. I went to his office one time with my friend and I must admit he was really a good-looking man and all that. But I honestly did not think that his intentions were s*xual. I have previously tried to apply for scholarships but because I failed two papers, my GPA reduced and I didn’t make the cut off so I gave up on that. I thought this lecturer was capable of helping me get a scholarship if I narrated my story to him.
He spoke to me in a professional way when my friend was in the office with me and he told me he runs a scholarship programme for needy students like me. He gave me a different time to come and see him in his office. I went to him again on the day he gave me. This time, my friend had a lecture and she couldn’t escort me. When I went, the conversation was totally different. He started telling me about the number of students he pays their fees and the need to understand that life is a ‘give and take’. He said I have something he wants and he has something I want. He gave me his personal contact and told me to call him anytime. Then he got up from his desk and started making advances towards me. He tried to lift my skirt but I had had enough and I got up and left the office. When I got to my room, my roommates were not around and I cried bitterly.
I wasn’t done paying my school fees. I also had to buy some handouts for my courses and pay for resit. In addition to that, I wasn’t having enough money to sustain me for the rest of that month even though I was eating once a day. I fought the urge to call the lecturer for three whole weeks. But when I used all the money I was using to sell clothes to buy some food and the handouts I needed, I realised that I had come to the end of the rope. I felt like I was hanging. I called him with tears in my eyes on Saturday and he wasn’t in the school but he drove to the entrance and picked me up. To clarify, he wasn’t my lecturer, he was teaching a different course. That day, he took me to an apartment beyond Kasoa and had his way with me. That place was his secret apartment. He only brought his students there.
After that one encounter, he sent a huge sum of money into my bank account. I paid all my expenses within that week and paid the debts I owed my friends. I even sent something to my siblings and I still had some money left with me. The following weekend, the cycle continued. But this time, I boarded a vehicle from campus and met him halfway. This happened almost every week until I recently told him I was done. I have created separate mutual funds for all my siblings and myself. The returns we are getting are enough to sustain us monthly. I also rekindled my clothes bussiness. I have rented a shop and I have an employee who sells for me. After I completed University a year ago, I rented a two bedroom for my siblings and I and we now stay there. I pay their school fees as well. I did all of this with the weekly amounts I was receiving from my sugar daddy. It hasn’t come easily.
The man is a pervert, he can make demands on me and place huge amounts on them. He would tell me to allow him to spit in my mouth for ghc1K. Then he would spank me with a cane for 2k. Other times he would choke me with his thing for 3k and on and on. If I played the game well, I could leave with 15K every week. I learnt that apart from his farm and lecturing, he was on the board of big institutions and he was enjoying a lot of allowances so giving out such amounts was peanut to him. I want to be free of him now because I have established myself. I plan on buying a second shop next to my current shop to start selling shoes. I have budgeted for that and everything. I have also bought a plot of land and I am starting a building project soon. Now he said none of his girls ever leaves him. I told him I was done with University now and I wanted my freedom.
He said any girl who leaves him after his investments in her will meet her untimely death. This has really scared me, my friend who introduced us told me she sleeps with a friend of my lecturer. These old men are in this society. Not a cult persay, but a friendship society and you’ll have to have s*x with them until they don’t want you anymore or else they will find a way to end your life because you know too much about them. My friend claims these men have ways and means of finding you if you ever try to run. I feel so trapped although I look happy on the outside. I want to advice all girls to never succumb to the pressure of sleeping with sugar daddies for money. It doesn’t end well