I was in my second year at the university and it was normal for me to visit my aunt at the village market since she was funding my education.
One day, on my way to the market, a stranger stopped me and pleaded that I help him attract buyers for his wares by speaking the local dialect to them. According to him, he was new to the market, but I wasn’t; so I had a better chance of selling the goods. I was about to decline his offer when a bike man drove towards us and tried to convince me to help the man so that he doesn’t get robbed. I told them to allow me to get my aunt’s consent first, but they immediately started saying some weird things. They said that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about them and that they had deposited the tooth of an animal inside me. It sounded really strange. They encouraged me to go somewhere private and check it if I doubted them.
I was scared and naïve. It was happening so fast. I began to cry and asked for their help to get rid of the animal tooth. The men drove me from the market into a big bush beside it. They said they needed to conduct a ritual which involved raping me and threatened to kill me inside the bush. They both raped me in turns. I prayed that God would make them let me go. They told me to put my hand in and remove the animal tooth. I was astonished to find it inside me! I removed it and gave it to them.
Next, they drove me to my school and withdrew all the money in my account, which was my class’ contribution to produce a newspaper for that year’s convocation. They ordered me not to tell anyone about it and drove off.
I didn’t tell anyone. I only confided in my pastor whom I trusted. He promised to keep it a secret. Imagine the shock I was in when he narrated the incident during a Wednesday service. He told the congregation to pray against scammers. He mentioned that it had happened to one of his daughters and pointed toward me. People turned to look. I had never felt so betrayed. Obviously, I couldn’t report him to anyone, so I bottled it up and moved on.