In the village close to mine there was an old rich man called Kajanjawe. Both my elder brothers and my father worked for him.

The first day I went to school was a Monday in the last week of September 1987. Me and my cousin, Kawariza, were sitting in the dining room having breakfast waiting for my mother to take us to school for my first time. When we went out after breakfast we saw a jeep parked outside our home and inside the car was Kanjanjawe with his driver. The boss was coming to see my father because he was very sick.

Suddenly after setting his eyes on my cousin Kawariza, he spoke to his driver and asked, “Who is that lady? Where does she stay? How can I reach her?”

Martin, the driver, replied and said, “She is the niece of Emmanual.” Me and my cousin were listening to their entire conversation.

Before we left for school Kanjanjawe came over to us calling for Kawariza. She went up to him and they had a short conversation. Suddenly we saw Martin looking unhappy that his boss was talking to her. Kawariza was Martin’s girlfriend, but no one in the family knew about it.

After one week Kanjanjawe came back to our house to talk to my father about marrying Kawariza. My mother and other members of the family were against it, but not my father. Seeing the profit, he called all the members of the family together to discuss the issue. He presented the issue and told them that there was no other alternative. Kawariza was not happy because she was going to marry someone that she did not love.

One month later all was done and Kawariza went to stay in her new house with four other wives. Her whole life she was not happy. I always saw her with expensive things and fancy cars. But I knew she was not happy.

The boss was not aware of the childhood relationship of his driver and Kawariza. His wife was cheating on him with the driver and he fathered all five children except the eldest.